On top of spaghetti...

Who knew that eating spaghetti could be so much fun?!

My girls love spaghetti.

They also love to be silly.

Apparently it was good. Both girls gave it a "thumbs up"!

It's all fun and games till someone starts feeding the dog...BUSTED!

My Weekly Deals 5/23-5/30 + May Savings

Just when I thought I've seen it all.....I got a new diaper bag for $2.98 (regularly $24.99) from Babies R Us! Sheryl posted Friday that there was a $10 off coupon for diaper bags and that the clearance diaper bags were included! I picked up 2 of these diaper bags (only ones available at my BRU) and paid $6.50 total!

Fry's has a few good deals this week. I was so excited to get Santa Cruz lemonade for .25 a bottle, too bad it tastes like poo. I also picked up Wheat Thin Stix for .67, Milano Melts for .67, mustard for .49, another $1.88 watermelon, 4-12pks of Coke for $7.88, FREE Oscar Mayer hot dogs, FREE Aquafresh toothbrushes for the girls and I finally used my rain check to get FREE Nivea lotion. I'm finding my Fry's to have less and less thanks to "extreme couponers" but I think I found a great Fry's that is really stocked!

At Safeway I just got my FREE Jack Daniels BBQ sauce. Some for me and some for my brother. It's his favorite.

At Wal-Mart I picked up Pull-Up wipes for .64 (and they are Princess ones!), FREE Nexcare bandaids, FREE Cottonelle wipes, $1 White Cloud tp and a FREE tank top for my Mom. There are coupons in the All You magazine for $5 off a Just My Size item and they have tank tops for $5. Hooray for FREE clothes!

Walgreens was suppose to have a few good deals this week but everytime I went to get an item there was a sign saying "sorry for the inconvenience, we failed to order enough product that we put in our ad because we're idiots....." but I was excited to get 6 bags of Oxy Clean tabs for .50 each and just in time since my rain check expires today!

I also did a little shopping that wasn't so freap but I still used coupons and got great deals. Target had flip flops for baby N for $5 and flip flops for Haylee for $2.50 so I bought them each 2 pairs for summer. I also went to Kohls and got 2 shirts, a cute summer dress and a pair of capris for me. After merchandise credit and part of a gift card, I paid nothing out of pocket and I even got $10 in Kohl's cash! Yippee.

You can check the matchups on Sheryl's site to see where I found the coupons to score these great deals. I advise you to visit her site once a day so you don't miss out on awesome deals!

My totals for May are in. The following numbers include anytime I shopped at Fry's, Safeway, Albertson's, Bashas, CVS, Target and Walgreens when I used coupons along with their advertised deals.

Total Out of Pocket= $135.23
Total Coupon Savings= 241.75
Total Savings (Coupons, Bonus Coupons & Store Savings)= $661.53

Totals so far this year-

Total Out of Pocket= $719.58
Total Coupon Savings= $1687.92
Total Savings (Coupons, Bonus Coupons & Store Savings)= $4153.63

Friday Ramblings

My sweet baby N is 13 months old as of yesterday. She just gets cuter every day. Oh, and I absolutely love how long and curly her hair is getting!

Natalee is learning how to eat with utensils and does so awesome! I put food on her spoon/fork and she puts it right into her mouth and hands it back to me. Especially with ice cream.

Lately she has been saying Mama so much. When I have something she wants (usually food) she gets so excited and says "mama, mama, mama, mama" over and over. Cracks us up!

Haylee is always talking for Jackson and it's hilarious! When we see him in the morning she'll sing, "good morning, good morning, how is sweet Jackson this morning?" Then she changes her voice and responds from Jackson, "I'm fine, I'm fine I slept all day and night!" I love when she talks for him in a special voice.

Haylee has not been behaving today. We went to Fry's for like 15 minutes and she was a little brat they entire time. She finished off the trip by screaming and crying the whole way out the door. I looked at Josh and said, "it's days like these I don't want anymore kids!"

Haylee and Daddy were suppose to go see Rio tonight, but after her "episode" earlier, I'm afraid she might have to wait a few days. There are a lot of cute movies coming out and I'm excited to take Haylee to see them all, I just wish baby N would sit through movies also. Maybe in a few months!

Haylee's invites for her 4th birthday were sent out this week. Since we just invite family to parties, it won't take long to call everyone to cancel in case she doesn't shape up!


Monday was the start of the new season of The Bachelorette. That means every Monday I get to go to my Mom's and watch the show in peace and quiet. I wish the Bachelor/Bachelorette was on every night!

My Mom and I took the girls to Serrano's this week for dinner (Josh was working a job fair for his business). My mom asked the busser if he wanted to buy a child if that's any indication on how things went! (My 2 were actually pretty well behaved).

And because my Mom is finally better after being sick for 3 weeks, Josh and I get to go out to celebrate our Anniversary! I am so very excited about this much needed break date night with my Hubby. I'm not sure exactly where we are going, but anywhere without the girls is sounding pretty good right about now :)

My niece Danielle made Jr. Varsity Cheer at Skyline for next school year. Who knew it costs an arm and a leg just to be in cheer? Well me and my Mom happily gave her all the money she needed to live her dream!

Thankfully Josh and the girls now have insurance as of Monday. Unfortunately, I am still being examined under a microscope since I'm the one with a history of endometriosis and thyroid issues even though the edometriosis hasn't given me any issues in over a year and my thyroid condition appears to have just been pregnancy related. Of course it was me who needed to see a doctor this week but thankfully my sister came to my rescue with a prescription of Macrobid so I didn't have to shell out $200 for a visit and prescription with no insurance. Thanks Jen!

Oh, and if you didn't hear on FB, my "button" won the "Button Challenge" for Sheryl's site so I get a $50 Fry's card and more importantly, Josh gets FREE advertising on her blog for a year (her blog has thousands of visits a day)!!! So you know what that means....ya, I have been busy trying to create a website for Josh's business. I'm trying to use Blogger since I'm familiar with that, but I'm trying to make it not look like a blog. Pretty tricky!

Josh has been busy with his new business (and his new job at Brewer too). His sales manager held a job fair on Wednesday and more than 50 people showed up and several are interested in doing door-to-door sales and whatever else to bring in the sales for Josh. We are crossing our fingers that a few really good sales guys get his business rollin' since Josh doesn't have the time to get out there himself right now. The joys of running your own business :)

I think that's enough whining rambling for today. I'm looking forward to this 3 day weekend which includes date night with Hubby, time spent with my Mom and lots of fun with the girls!

Minnie

Last Saturday my Mom and I took the girls to Chandler Mall for the Grand Opening of their new Disney Store! I had just taken the girls a couple days prior because I heard they had Rapunzel stuff that I couldn't find anywhere else so I ran over there with the girls. And boy did they have Rapunzel stuff!!! Haylee & I were equally excited.

Anyways, we waited in line to see Mickey or Minnie (they traded off every 30 minutes) for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Waiting was actually not bad at all. The line contiuously moved and both girls were perfect!

Hannah went first....

When it was our turn Haylee totally ditched me and Natalee and ran up to Minnie. She gave her a BIG hug and was so excited to see her. I was very surprised!

Natalee of course kept her eye on Minnie and didn't get too close, but all in all we had a wonderful time.

They gave us a 20% off coupon after we took pictures with Minnie so of course we had to go to the Disney Store and use it! Well, wouldn't you know it, there was a line to get into the Disney Store as well! I think we waited maybe 10 minutes so not too bad. They had a Disney parade while we were in there and they passed out masks for all the kids and then then marched all around the store. I laughed so hard just seeing Haylee in her "Jessie" mask, it was perfect!

Natalee tried it on too and that was just hilarious!

I bought Haylee a Rapunzel head band and Natalee picked out the Lady dog from Lady and the Tramp. What a fun day!

Splish Splash

Rub A Dub Dub

My Kiddos Love the Tub!

Even when Mama makes funny hairdos :)

Silly Baby N

Natalee's new favorite thing to do....

throw all the stuff out of her crib.

She is such a nut!

My Weekly Deals 5/18-5/22

I've been getting my freap on! I get so excited when I go to the store and they actually have what I went after! But, if they don't I just make sure I get a rain check. As a couponer, a rain check is my best friend.

Fry's is having their frozen food mega event this week. They also have a couple other great deals this week and I've been there twice so far. Some of my favorite deals this week are FREE ibuprofen, FREE Colgate toothpaste, FREE Ben & Jerry's (after catalina), FREE candy bars, FREE Dasani, FREE Pillsbury Grands (after catalina), .50 Farmer John bacon, Lawry's marinade for .49 a bottle, $1.88 watermelon and .39 for 3pk Magnum ice cream bars (I've heard these are to die for). Fry's is still taking competitor coupons and all coupons are $1. I love Fry's.

I actually went to Walmart this week too. I finally found the 3pk Ivory soap which is FREE after coupon. While I was there I price matched the 6pk Propel water from Bashas which I got for $1 after coupons. I got some of these free last week at Fry's and Josh loves them!

I also went to Albie's this week. I haven't been there in a long time. All coupons are $1 there too so I was able to get Trix for .49 a box! While I was there I found the 2pk El Monterey burritos which I had coupons to get FREE and I also got Haylee some Jolly Time popcorn which was .49 a box after coupon.

Yesterday I ran to Walgreens and scored some cheap swim diapers for little Natalee. They have their Huggies swim diapers for $6.99. I stacked a $2/1 coupon with a $2/1 Walgreens coupon and got them for $2.99 a pack. That's a smokin' deal! While I was there I got FREE Carefree and FREE Scunci ponytails (after RR).

You can check the matchups on Sheryl's site to see where I found the coupons to score these great deals. I advise you to visit her site once a day so you don't miss out on awesome deals!



I Heart My Nikon

So far so good. I'm at about page 70 of 224 in the manual and I'm loving my camera. I was able to get the pictures off last night and I was very happy with how they are turning out. I thought I'd post a few I've taken over the past week.

I'm finding out that I love the "child" setting because it makes the colors in the pictures vibrant!

I love this camera as a point and shoot but I'm excited to learn how to really use it!

Friday Ramblings

First and foremost, I need to get a new USB cord for my camera so I can get all the pictures off and do more posting on my blog!
I got my haircut Tuesday, nothing exciting, just getting ready for summer.

Haylee is having a Tangled Birthday next month and I have been on the lookout for Tangled things on sale. Well, waiting for a sale back fired on me this time. I was waiting for the figurines to go on sale but sadly every Disney store in town (along with disneystore.com) is running out of everything Tangled. Well, after calling around I discovered that Chandler Mall has awesome stock because they just opened the store last week so the warehouse held Tangled items for their opening. So of course I drove right over and was able to get the figurines, the soft plush doll (which is also no where to be found except ebay for 3x the cost), a swimsuit cover up, sunglasses and cup. All on sale by the way except the figurines. I was so excited....and of course, so was Haylee. She was so excited to see all the Tangled stuff that she didn't even see everything I bought her! She's not spoiled.......

I am actually quite excited to say I ventured out with the girls 3 days this week. Aside from our journey to Chandler Mall (where we also ate lunch and the girls played in the play area), I took the girls to the zoo with my friend April yesterday, and then today we went to the library and ran some errands. I can't stay inside all day, the weather has just been so good to use this year!

Speaking of great weather, we have been spending time outside every night because it is just absolutely perfect out! We've taken the girls for walks, to the park, cleaned out the garage and even Haylee loves to just play outside with her toys and the rocks. I hope this cooler weather means we'll have a nicer summer. Ha!

Haylee girls has been "cleaning and organizing" like crazy. Seriously, she tells me she has so much to do each day and then lists a bunch of stuff. Not sure where she hears that :) I brought some of their toys downstairs to store in the new tv stand and I'm trying to rearrange things in the office too. Last minute spring cleaning I guess. It seems like every time I cross 1 thing of my list I add 2 more things.

Haylee filled up her entire sticker chart again! This is awesome because it means she is behaving better. In just the last week she has been yelling at me less and I don't think she's even had a full blown "freak out" once. In fact, several times a day she tells me, "guess what Mom? I'm gonna be a good girl today." That's what I like to hear!

I have to laugh when I'm making food for the girls. I have been fixing the same amount for both girls and Natalee is usually the only one who finishes her plate. No wonder Haylee is so scrawny and Natalee is a little pork chop.

I love how both girls love milk even though Josh and I never drink it! Haylee drinks chocolate milk and Natalee drinks regular. I haven't given Natalee any chocolate milk but I did give her some coconut milk and she liked that. I don't think there is anything Natalee doesn't like!

Poor Baby N is still dealing with awful teething irritation. Her top molars should be popping through any day and she has been miserable. Every other time she has gotten teeth it didn't bother her too much, but these molars seem to be killing her. I hope my sweet, happy baby returns soon.

Natalee has been taking 3 hour naps lately. She is still taking 2 naps and the 2nd nap is usually only an hour or so. She is such a great sleeper.

Josh should be working out in the field starting next week. Hopefully no more hour and a half drives to the office.

Josh will be a vendor at the Town of Queen Creek 4th of July Celebration at Schnepf Farms this year. This is huge! Last year they had over 4,000 people attend. He will be representing both Dish Network & DIRECTV there. Hopefully he'll pull in some sales!

I am happy that I have been able to get my freap on little bit by little bit this week. I love deals, but I love it even more when the shelves aren't cleared and I can actually get the deals I go after. I will resume my "my weekly deals" post next week showcasing some of the notable deals.

Looks like we might be having another busy weekend ahead of us. Mickey and Minnie will be at Chandler Mall tomorrow and Josh and I plan to work on our to do lists.

And I'm done rambling........

Lessons Learned

Natalee hopefully learned 2 valuable lessons this past week. First, when you are "pleasantly plump" do not attempt to stick your leg between the crib slats. It will get stuck leaving you screaming bloody murder for help. When Mom can't free your leg (stuck at the knee cap), Daddy will have to come to your rescue and you'll be left with a sad bruise on your leg.

Secondly, please to do pick things up off the grass and put them in your mouth. Grass, weeds, rocks and especially dog poop are not too great for your well being.

Poor little girl has to learn the hard way sometimes.

Dilemma

I would love to post about our weekend. How Haylee planted a rose bush, the girls played in a new sprinkler and how we all enjoyed spaghetti. However, all of these memories were captured on my new camera and all of the pictures were accidentally erased last night. I am just sick about it. Now, I am going to read all 224 pages of my reference manual before I push another button.

I was able to recapture some of the same memories today, but unfortunately I need a new USB cord to transfer pictures to the computer so I added that to my to do list.

I never knew having a new camera could be such a pain. I like to think of it as a wonderful point and shoot, but to get the full value out of it, I have to learn how to use it as an SLR and use the special manual settings. So.........if I don't post anything till October you'll know why. I'm off to learn a thing or 2 about my new camera!

Oh, and no exciting deals this past week. I have been too busy erasing pictures playing with my new camera!

Friday Ramblings

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate health insurance? Pulte always offered wonderful insurance so I never had to worry. Now that Josh switch jobs we're finding that Brewer's insurance stinks. Luckily, they offered Josh insurance starting June 1st instead of August 1st (which it was suppose to be) but their insurance was going to be $169 a week for all 4 of us (just medical) and the insurance itself was not very good at all! So, Josh met with our financial planner yesterday and received other quotes and we decided to go with one of those instead. It's only gonna cost us about $60 more a month than we were paying through Pulte, but sadly, it's no where near as good as Pulte's insurance. The biggest thing is that it does not cover maternity at all. Fine with me, after the week I've had I don't want anymore kids! Ok really, I do, but we weren't gonna start trying till Natalee is 2 anyways, so I'm gonna get on birth control just to be extra safe and then we can always switch next year at open enrollment and get an insurance that covers maternity. Gee, insurance is just so complicated sometimes.

In other news, Natalee has learned to pull the placemats off the table. I found that out the hard way when she pulled the placemat along with my brand new large sweet tea onto the floor last night. Yesterday was another "one of those days". Hence why I am not sad about having no maternity insurance for a year.

Josh hired a sales manager to more or less get his business off and running. This guy has some great ideas and people under him ready to work so it sounds promising.

Haylee learned to draw flowers yesterday and she is so excited. She has been drawing all the Princess's lately and she does a great job. I can always tell which ones they are because Ariel has red hair and a green tail, Belle has brown hair and Rapunzel has long yellow hair with flowers in it.

On Wednesday I took the girls to the zoo and my sister came along too. It was actually a bit warm. We should have definitely went Tuesday when it was cooler but I wanted to make sure Baby N was ok after her "deal" Monday in the car. She is fine by the way and has no further incidents.

Wednesday night me and Haylee girl went to the theatre to see African Cats. Haylee has went to see all 3 Disney Nature films so far and this one I think she liked the best. Unfortunately she is now old enough to know that the lions are not "playing" with the zebra when they chase him down and jump on him. Some parts of the movies are too much I think.

My poor Mom has been really sick all week with a cold and flu like symptoms. Poor Shelley is not gonna get a much needed break this weekend :(

I am planning another Fry's Mega run tomorrow and then possibly taking the girls to get their pictures taken. I'm totally procrastinating on this and I don't know why.

I am running out of room for my stockpiling. I'm having to store stuff under the stairs since my pantries are full. Maybe I shouldn't be going to Fry's. No I'm not a hoarder or a shelf clearer. I have learned how to coupon with respect unlike TLC's Extreme Couponing. I hate that show and I think people are getting crazy because of it. They aren't learning the "right" way to coupon and they are being greedy and just clearing the shelves. That show is giving us couponers a bad name and I can't wait for that show to end!

Happy Friday!

30 is just around the corner

Blogger is having some issues. Twice this week my posts were hidden back in a draft mode and then I just noticed this post I did yesterday completely vanished. So I'll try to remember what I wrote.

On Monday Josh turned 29. That's too close to 30 if you ask me. When I was a kid 30 was old!

Monday was also one of the worst days I've had in awhile. It started out with Haylee waking me up at 7:30 screaming and demanding I get her chocolate milk right away. Just how I love being woken up. Then I decided to take the girls to run a couple errands which includes some surprises for Josh's birthday. Well we made it to Safeway for the juice that was on sale. Then as we headed to the Dollar Tree, Natalee began projectile vomiting all over herself. I had nothing in the car to clean it up and I'm not quite sure it was even cleanable (if that's a word). I raced home and put her in the tub, but not before I almost barfed myself. Luckily she went down for a nap and I attempted to clean up the car mess. I say attempted because after 20 minutes I finally got the car seat out of the car, but I couldn't get the stupid cover off. I decided to spray it all off with the hose and leave it for Josh to figure out.

When Josh got home from work me and Haylee went back out to finish where we left off. Went to the Dollar Tree for 3 balloons then went to Walmart for the rest of the stuff. First off, no flowers. Haylee was upset because Josh gave her money to pick out flowers for me for our anniversary (which was also Monday). I told her it was okay and she could get me some for my birthday. So we find Josh a card and a cheesecake and leave. When we get out to the car 1 of the balloons tried to escape out the window but I had tied them inside luckily. Well, the frickin balloon came off the string! By this time I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. All I was trying to do all day was make Josh's birthday special and everything that could go wrong did.

My mom was going to watch the girls for us that night so we could go to dinner but she got really sick so she couldn't. I picked up some dinner on the way home from Walmart and luckily the rest of the night went okay.

Happy Birthday Sweatheart! I hope you know how much me and the girls love you and how much you mean to us! I still owe you dinner and hurry up and pick out the printer you want so I can buy that for you for your birthday :)

Yes!

This is one of my favorite things Natalee does!

I laugh everytime!

(and yes, apparently Haylee is hungry too!)

My Weekly Deals 5/1-5/9

This weeks My Weekly Deals will be easy. I already showcased my Fry's run on Sheryl's site if you wanna see the details.

I bought 83 items. Paid $19.99 and saved $108.16.

I was able to find the Clean & Clear body wash at Walgreen's which is free this week. They are B1G1 Free and I had B1G1 Free coupons which makes them all FREE and I just paid tax. Not that it was as easy as it sounds. I had to educate Walgreen's about their coupon policy first!

Lastly, Safeway has the BEST deal on juice (ending today). Their Welch's Essentials are $1.49 when you buy 4 and I ordered $1/1 coupons (because they were regional and AZ didn't get them) which made for .49 juice!! And these are the big 64 oz. size. This was my favorite deal this week! While I was there I picked up a couple Dasani that were also FREE after my .50/1 coupons. Yummy FREE water!

Oh, and I more thing. I was excited to finally order the 2011 Entertainment Book. Sheryl posted a deal yesterday to get it for $12 with FREE shipping and I got 40% cash back for going through Shop at Home. I've been waiting for a deal on these because it pays for itself super fast.

You can check the matchups on Sheryl's site to see where I found the coupons to score these great deals. I advise you to visit her site once a day so you don't miss out on awesome deals!

8 Wonderful Years

On this day 8 years ago I married my best friend. The man I'm going to spend the rest of my life with.

How did I get so lucky?

I am so thankful for Josh because he is a such a wonderful husband, a wonderful father and he loves me so much.

It's crazy to think how our lives have changed since the day we got married. I'd say our lives are completely different now and that's because we are parents. I love him as much as I did the day I married him if not more. Happy Anniversary sweetheart. Thank you for making my life complete!



Mother's Day

Mother's Day might be the most meaningful holiday for me. After all, it means I survived another year being a Mom. Totally not joking either, being a Mom is by far the hardest job. I'd like to say I survived this past year with lots of prayer, learning to have more patience and lots of deep breaths.

I am forever grateful to Him for allowing me to be a Mommy and for giving me these 2 beautiful little girls. I love my little girls with all of my heart.

Today has been emotional for me. I'm not exactly sure why. I started feeling sad yesterday just thinking about today. The only thing I can think of is that last Mother's Day I was so sick and an emotional wreck. Natalee was only 2 months old and I had mastitis and was the sickest I've ever been in my life. I remember just crying all day because it was also Josh's Birthday and our Anniversary all on the same day and I hadn't done anything for him because I was so sick. I felt horrible.

Today the tears started as soon as I opened my cards. Josh seriously must have read through each and every card before picking the perfect 3. One from him, one from Haylee and one from Natalee. They were the perfect cards from each person and when I read them I just cried. I feel so loved.

Josh has gone out of his way to make me feel even more special today. He did all the laundry, has changed every diaper, made me breakfast, went to get me lunch, changed our sheets and bathed both girls. It's just the little things. I feel so loved.

And did I mention what Josh got me for Mother's Day? I have been wanting a new camera for a couple years now but never wanted to spend that much money on me. Josh took care of it, and bought me an awesome Nikon 3100. I feel so loved.

We just got back from dinner at Bucca Di Beppo where we celebrated Mother's with my Mom. I am so thankful for my Mom. She has always been a best friend more than a Mom. We have made so many memories together and have went on some pretty awesome trips together. Before I had the girls, we use to take Mother-Daughter trips. We've went to Oahu, California and Vegas that I remember off the top of my head. Now, we enjoy Mother-Daughter days out where we go shopping, hit up a Starbucks, see a movie and enjoy peace and quite. My mom does so much for me. She watches the girlies so Josh and I can have date nights and she's even kept them an entire weekend for us to go up to Sedona. I love my Mom very much and I'm so thankful to have her in my life.

Show Your Shops

Sheryl over at The Cents'Able Shoppin is featuring a new Saturday, "Show Your Shops" where all the freapers can show there recent trips.

This was my trip to Fry's yesterday where I spent $19.99 and saved $108.16. My cashier was even very proud of me and told me I did a great job! I love my Fry's!

I bought-

2 Sunny D

4 Propel Water

4 Mom's Best Cereal

2 Nivea Body Wash

4 Gillette Shaving Cream

4 Boulder Canyon Chips

2 So Delicious Coconut Milk

3 Kettle Tias Tortilla Chips

4 Boxes Cocoa Krispies

5 Michelinas

1 Strawberries

4 Grape Jelly

2 2lb. Bags of Mahatma Rice

4 Dasani

6 Lunchables

30 Koolaid

2 Packs of Qtips

I will now use the 4 codes inside the boxes of Cocoa Krispies to receive a $5 gas card! I love being a Freaper!

Friday Ramblings

So far this is not a good Friday. I woke up to 2 big, red piles of dog barf. Thanks Jackson, I love you too.

Yesterday I woke up with a sore throat. It went away but I feel rather lousy. My body is in limbo trying to decide whether to be sick or get better. I don't have time to be sick.

I was able to tackle Natalee's baby book yesterday and everything is up to date! Now I just have a few things to add to Haylee's and then add pictures to both!

Tomorrow my Mom is watching both girls all day. I have been looking forward to this all year! Ok, so maybe just for the last couple weeks, but still. Josh and I get to go shopping, to a movie, dinner, whatever we want without the constant whining, getting kids in and out of the car and screaming in restaurants. We are so excited.

This weekend we'll be celebrating 3 holidays at our house. Sunday, of course, is Mother's Day. This Mother's Day is extra special to me because it means I have survived an entire year with 2 kids. Girls to be exact. And that includes 1 girl with a horrible attitude. So, Mother's Day is HUGE for me. Monday, Josh and I celebrate 8 years of marriage. That means Josh has put up with me for 8 years, poor guy. And because we got married on Josh's 21st Birthday, that means we are also celebrating Josh's Birthday. Busy weekend for us!

Josh received wonderful news this week at work. We will be getting insurance June 1st instead of August 1st. Thank God. Now if we can just make it through ONE month without having to make a trip to the doctor we'll be doing good.

Josh picked up his glasses Wednesday. He looks like a stud in his Guess, color changing glasses. Good thing the girls at the eye doctor helped him pick out the perfect pair.

Josh continues to balance work, his own business, me and the kids. He is Superman. 

Haylee loves to look at the Princess stuff on disneystore.com. Everyday she asks to look at the Rapunzel stuff and other Princess stuff. I am proud to say I have taught her to navigate the site all by herself. It occupies her for quite some time. She's constantly finding new things to add to her birthday list. She cracks me up!

Haylee helped Daddy put together our 2nd TV stand last night. She had her Handy Manny tools out and everything. Josh had to remind her several times to stop put the screw driver where it didn't belong because he didn't want her ruining the stand.

Yesterday was a milestone for Haylee. It was 12:30pm before she had her 1st tantrum. I think she only had 2 1/2 all day. That's a record.

Little Natalee is walking all over the place. She is doing so good and balances very well. It's so cute to see her toddle everywhere.

Her ginormous molars are still making their way in and boy is she mad. She's been running a low fever off and on since Tuesday, she's been drooling like crazy and has had a runny nose off and on. I sure hope she feels better soon and she doesn't end up with an ear infection.

Well it's time to stop rambling and plan some things for tomorrow.

New TV

Our big screen bit the dust last Friday. Too bad it didn't happen closer to Black Friday because those things are not cheap and last time I checked they don't have coupons for TV's. So, we got a new TV which was the easy part (or maybe I should say easier since we did have to look at several different stores to find the best deal). Finding a TV stand to match and fit in the space our entertainment center allows was not so easy. We actually found one that matched perfectly at Fry's (1st store we checked) so we bought it. Well, we got it put together and it just didn't work. It was not long enough and it was too short. Looked ridiculous. So, we went to like 7-8 stores on Monday and found one at Best Buy (last store of the night) that was perfect. It arrived today and it works perfectly. Good thing Josh had a helper or it would have taken him even longer to put it together!

By the way, we are able to take our other one back for a refund since Fry's has the best customer service!

Walk this way.....

Look who's walking!!!!

(May 1st-Haylee thinks it's hysterical she can walk)

She's been walking really good now for about 1 week.

(May 2nd- I love how she says "Bubba")

She just keeps going and going and going! Boy are we in trouble.

(Today!)

Haylee Girl

Haylee went to the dentist last week. This was her 2nd time to that office. The first time she did great. She let them do xrays, was a little nervous about the cleaning but held still and let them do what they needed too. This time, not so much! She let them do xrays on the front teeth but didn't like the lady shoving the plastic thing far back on the side of her mouth. She freaked out about the cleaning which I kinda understand because they gagged her twice and she is deathly afraid of throwing up. She did let the actually dentist count her teeth and paint the protectant stuff on, but she was just a mess this time around. On a positive note, she is in the no cavity club for the 2nd time in a row!!! And she got a Cinderella toothbrush. She was telling me the night before she wanted a Tangled toothbrush and I told her they wouldn't have any because that movie is too new. She told me "well they can go online and buy it!" She's pretty smart. She knows I can find anything online.


We've been having major issues with Haylee and her attitude lately. I'm thinking about looking into a 3 month summer camp! :) It seems all she does is scream at me at the top of her lungs, argue with me and be mean to her sister. I'm constantly putting her in time out all day long and it's really stressful and ridiculous. I don't know what to do anymore. The only thing that seems to phase her is telling her I'm taking back one of her Tangled birthday presents or that she's not getting a party at all. That's when she gets really mad! Terrible 2's, Terrible 3's....please tell me there's no such thing as Terrible 4's or I may not survive another year! And just to think I still have Natalee to go through these little "phases". I think I'll get my tubes tied!


Onto more positive Haylee news...Haylee loves to draw and color. She has a little craft area in her room now and she'll happily go upstairs and just color, play with stickers and do whatever her little heart desires. I love those quite times!

She can be the sweetest little girl when she wants to be. Some days she'll constantly tell me she loves me and other days she'll say, "I don't want my Mommy anymore." How sad is that. This picture just goes to show that all that screaming and hollering can really wear a little girl out!

(She passed out on the couch last night before Josh could put her to bed)

My Weekly Deals 4/25-4/30 + April Savings

These are some of my noteable deals for the past week. Keep in mind, I get all of these deals by following thecentsableshoppin.com. Sheryl posts deals for everything you can imagine as well as doing matchups for each grocery and drug store.


At Fry's I was finally able to use my raincheck to score the new Ziploc Versaglass containers. I was able to get the big ones FREE with $3/1 coupons and all of the other sizes were $1 with the $1.50/1 coupons. I also got my FREE Goldfish crackers, FREE McCormick seasoning, FREE Haribo gummy bears, cheap Foster Farms chicken, FREE Dasani water, FREE SmartWater and FREE Lunchables (thanks to Circle K tearpads!). I'm still looking for FREE Reach toothbrushes and FREE Listerine Pocketpaks but so far my store has been wiped out.


I've been watching Walgreens like crazy for the Oxiclean Tabs and I finally found 2 bags. They were .50 ea. after stacking a Wags coupon and a Manufacturer coupon. I throw these in with the girls clothes for an extra boost.


At Safeway this week I picked up Dole fruit bowls for little Natalee at $1 ea. I also got OreIda sweet potatoes fries for .99 a bag. Lastly,  I got my milk there this week for $1.79 a gallon. I guess I shouldn't say my milk because I don't drink milk. But both Natalee and Haylee do. They are good little girls :)


That's all the excitement for the past week. Most of my weekend was spent researching and buying a new TV and TV stand at which I could not use coupons for to get super cheap. :(

My totals for April are in. The following numbers include anytime I shopped at Fry's, Safeway, Albertson's, Bashas, CVS, Target and Walgreens when I used coupons along with their advertised deals.

Total Out of Pocket= $197.10
Total Coupon Savings= $249.45
Total Savings (Coupons, Bonus Coupons & Store Savings)= $641.58

Totals so far this year-

Total Out of Pocket= $584.35
Total Coupon Savings= $1446.17
Total Savings (Coupons, Bonus Coupons & Store Savings)=  $3492.10