Hogle Zoo with the Carvers

We've made it to Utah safely, and are having a ball. On Monday, we did normal life things like going to Costco and Target. In the afternoon, we went to see my mom & dad's new house up in Midway. It's just beautiful. Maddie gets a kick out of all the farm life everywhere.

It was so great to see our good friends the Carvers today. The Carvers have been our friends since the girls were born back in Maryland. We had some great adventures and fond memories of them. They moved to Utah two years ago, but we all seem to pick up where we leave off, even if it's been months. Our girls just get along great! I adore Amanda. She's the kind of friend you wish lived right next door because she's always up for an adventure, or it's just fun to sit and chat too.

We met up at the zoo and walked most of the day in the hot sun. The adults spent their time looking at animals, while the kids ran around playing.

Here's a peek at our visit:

He's a crawler!

John declared his independance by crawling today. He's been working on it for a couple of weeks, but today he travelled several feet, so we're calling it official. The funny thing is, he will not crawl 1/4 inch more than necessary to get where he wants. He'll just drop and reach when he's within an arm's length. It's a crack up. Also, he'll drop down and rest his head every so often. Gotta admit, with his head, I'd need a rest too!

Patch Industry

Today we got a lot done! We started by picking strawberries:

We came home, and Jared and Maddie went to work painting the deck:

I took our lovely 10.19 pounds of strawberries:

And turned them into 24 half-pints of jam:

Then we cleaned up our mess, cleaned up the kids, and I ran to Wal-mart and Stop & Shop to support my new hobby. PHEW! We're all tuckered out!

Stop & Shop has double coupons

I went back to Stop and Shop today to take advantage of their great deals on Betty Crocker stuff. Come to find out, they are doubling coupons. So, I handed the clerk all my coupons, and she says, "The last one won't work because it's for $.50 and you only owe $.40" So I ran and got a box of Rice-a-Roni. It ended up being free. My grand total was $.40 for over $15 worth of groceries! YIPPEEEEE! When I score a deal like this, I feel like dancing out of the store -- just gloating little me. :)

Standing up for your grocery rights

As many of you know, I've really gotten into this coupon thing. Last night I waded through the ads in our local free paper. I noticed that our local 'expensive' store Stop & Shop was having some pretty good deals -- and I had coupons on those things as well. So, we loaded up, I made a spreadsheet of what I wanted to buy, what the expected price was going to be and what my coupons were.

Well, when I got to the store, the ad didn't match the prices on the shelves for the cereal. I went to the customer service desk and asked for help -- was the ad correct, or the shelf pricing? They asked me to go to the cereal, that they'd send someone over to help and sort things out. Two people came over. I showed them the ad, the pricing on the shelves, and how the two didn't meet. The semi-manager looked at me, looked at my coupon book and asked me if I wanted a job. I told her I'd take one for $60/hour. She said she might meet my price.

We sorted through the ad and I went on shopping, based on the pricing in the ad and what I had planned to purchase. I should note, we didn't buy anything that we won't eat, or wouldn't have bought anyway.

I got to the checkout. Rang up my purchases. The wonderful lady helped make sure all the coupons went through -- some counted as double coupons! Yippee! In the end, my grocery bill totalled $68.11. My savings were deducted from that total -- $39.42 in savings! My out of pocket money ended up being $28.74. Great! Less than half price!

As I started walking out of the store, I realized they'd charged me too much for lemonade. It is the store policy to refund any incorrect price items, so I stopped by customer service, and they gave me a complete refund on the item -- $3.39 back in cash.

I got to the car and realized that one of the promotions didn't ring up correctly either. I went back in and they gave me $6.39 back. So cool.

So, my out of pocket expenses ended up being $18.96 for $68.11 in groceries. I saved $49.15 today in one store visit!

I'm so glad I went back and explained what had happened. I got almost $10 for it. Pretty good money for less than 5 minutes of my time :)

Can you see why I'm hooked?

The Catch -- Self Control

My wonderful friend Charlotte told me about CVSing. I'll be singing her praises the rest of my life! Her sister shops there, and saves lots of money. Sure right??? I'm always skeptical about these great bargains you hear about. Well, add my testimonial to the thousands already online about this. If CVS will continue to offer the bargains, I'll be a customer for life!

Here's what I bought this week:

I spent $16.01 for $57.23 worth of products!

I have $14.49 in Extra Care Bucks(like cash) to go back again! So, my next trip will be virtually free!

What do you need to get started?

• A CVS Extra Care Card
• CVS current add
• a plan for your spending to maximize your Extra Care Bucks return -- this perpetuates the free bargains. The more you buy that gives bucks back, the more stuff you get for free.
• A Sunday Newspaper(or the coupons from as many as you can get your hands on)

The basic idea is that you buy things that will give you Extra Care Bucks to use on your next purchase so that your next purchase is as close to free as possible. So, I went in, purchased $14.58 worth of stuff in my first visit. Then with the Extra Care Bucks I received, I went in again for my second purchase, which totalled only $1.43. Now, I have Extra Care Bucks(ECBs) to go back again and earn more. Also, any coupons you have just lower the price even more. YEAH! The trick is sticking to your plan instead of just picking up a few things while you're there, no matter how tempting it is!

Here are some websites to help you catch the whole idea and they detail how to plan:

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/cvs_deals/index.html

http://www.afullcup.com/

http://free2befrugal.blogspot.com/

http://www.frugalfreebiesanddeals.com/

Also, by paying attention to the coupons and ads from Sunday's paper, I was able to go to Stop & Shop(our grocery store) and get:

I got $31.54 worth of products for $7.64

That's a savings of $23.90!

The part that kills me about all of this -- I was going to spend the money anyway! I might not have bought in quantity, or that particular brand, but I would have had to purchase all of these items in the next six months. Now, I've gotten almost all of it for such a steal! Amazing! Good luck to all of you -- hope you try it too!

Kindergarten Orientation

Maddie had her kindergarten orientation this morning. She just loved it! She got to meet some of the teachers, take a tour of the school and even practice riding on the school bus! They had a treat after so she got to meet some of the kids in her future class. She couldn't be happier! I'm a little teared up about the whole thing. I'm just not ready to let her go! Who will I talk with, play games with, make cookies with?

One strange pespective -- Jared and I have both been talking about how we remember our kindergarten orientation. It's odd to think that the memories Maddie is making right now will stay with her all her life --- UGH! THE PRESSURE!!!

John sits up

Another milestone -- John learned how to sit up. The best part of this was that Maddie spent some time this morning working with him, helping him not to crash and get wounded. She was so excited when he could do it on his own -- she just clapped and cheered.

Little John celebrates the six month mark

I can't believe he's six-months-old. This little boy is such a blessing in our lives. He's so happy and friendly and just joyful all the time! It's probably all the chub that keeps him so pleasant. For those of you who haven't been able to see the chub, I've documented it below.

He's growing so fast and furious the last couple of weeks, I just can't believe it. He's gotten two teeth in ten days. He's learned how to roll both directions and is now landing himself into precarious positions. He will prop himself up on his arms and churn his legs when trying to get somewhere -- crawling is only a couple of weeks away. UGH! I'm happy to see his progress, but it means the baby phase is quickly coming to and end. I'll really miss his toothless smile!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great weekend! Saturday was spent on the road visitng. Sunday was spent napping :) YEAH for naps. Monday was spent with friends of all kinds. First we had a little parade on our street. Maddie was crowned the queen of the parade.

Later, a few families came over to just hang out and let the kids go crazy in the backyard. It was great!

Eric Carle Museum

Today we had a family outing -- our first real day-trip in a while. We drove from our home in Old Lyme to Amherst, Massachusetts -- stopping by the scout office in Hartford on the way. There we went to the Eric Carle Museum for children's picture books. It was great fun. They have several galleries with original art work from the books on display, but we weren't allowed to take pictures. So, we took pictures in ...

They have an art room:

A library where Frog and Toad came to visit, they read a story and had bunches of puppets and toys to play with.(fantastic sentence, eh?):

This rug was too perfect for a boy practicing his rolling skills!

They have a long hallway, and a great grassy field outside too:

I canned strawberry Jam!

It's a throwback to a simpler time, but hey -- I live in the country. In the country, you learn how to can. Amazingly, they sell all the supplies at your local Wal-Mart -- who knew?

So, I took the first step in preserving nature's bounty today with my friend Lisa's help. She came over and took me through the process step-by-step -- yeah Lisa! The best part of jam is that it's oh-so-yummy! We made homemade bread later that day, and even used the wheat grinder to make the flour! It tasted so good! I have to admit I was really proud of my new found homemaking skills.


Confession -- I must admit that we haven't grown a fruit or vegetable since we've been married. I have killed every plant that has entered our home. So, in the future, everything I can will be grown by someone else and preserved by me. :)

Thought this was cool...

I totally copied this from a friend, but these are the states I've visited -- 38 states(74%):

Here's all the places Maddie's been (19 states or 37%):

Here's where baby John -- in five months -- has been to 6 states:

Try it out for yourself: http://www.world66.com/myworld66

Happy in Houston

We were lucky enough to go to Houston for a week to get all the Kirkham Grandkids together. It was so much fun! We went crazy trying to see and do everything -- The Blue Bell Factory, Pump it Up, The Mall, The Woodlands, The Houston Zoo, visit Rice, drive to San Antonio for a whir-wind tour of the riverwalk and Sea World. Oh, the food -- yum! Finally real Tex-Mex again -- Papacitos, Los Cucos and something I can't remember.

The cousins were a hit -- seven kids ages five and under all in the same house. Lots of love, lots of noise, and lots of corn dogs. We missed our husbands though. Jeff got to hang out at night with all of us, but had to work in the day. Here's some pictures:

Sydney and Maddie at Blue Bell

The babies at Blue Bell -- John, Kennedy and Saryn

(The moms are Darcy, Kristie and Stacy)

Spencer and Anna -- after running into each other during American Idol

Darcy & John at SeaWorld

Spencer, Maddie, Saryn, Sydney and Anna

all looking at the giraffe in the Houston Zoo.