What a Deal!

So, ya'll know how many times I've mentioned that I can't stand Wal-Mart. I have many reasons... basically I just don't like going. It's a twenty minute drive and it would take up my whole evening or morning whenever I would go. On my days off I don't want to spend them at Wal-Mart! So since we've been living at the rental house I started shopping in town. I figured really by the time you add in gas money and those "extra things" I would always pick up at Wal-Mart that I didn't really need I wouldn't be spending any more money and it would save me a lot of time. Then I learned (from some friends) about this little thing called "couponing". Yah, I've known what a coupon is for a long time... and I would use them here and there for a few things if I had them, but normally I would cut them out and forget to use them or lose them or well you get the point! haha!

When I was introduced to this new concept of couponing I was intrigued because these people were saving big bucks (on stuff they used every day!)... and really who doesn't like to save money? I figure the more money I save on stuff like toilet paper that's not really fun to buy that just means I have more to spend on fun stuff like clothes for my boys :) OR as my husband would say, more money to save and put towards our new house so it will be paid off sooner... yah, I think my way of thinking is more fun, but either way works ;) haha!


So- I've been trying my hand at this couponing thing and I've been doing fairly well, but this past Friday night I scored my best deal so far I think! I was so excited when I got home that I put it all out on the table to show Ryan and then decided to take a picture.

I bought- *3 packs of Diet Coke (those don't last long around our house- I have an addiction) :(

*2 packages of Charmin toilet paper

*1 package of 8 rolls of Bounty paper towel

*2 jugs of Purex detergent

*1 bottle Dawn dish soap

*3 boxes of Kleenex

*1 bottle of Pantene Shampoo

*1 bottle of Pantene Conditioner

*2 cans of Tomato soup

*2 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup

*1 thing of lip balm

Grand total spent out of pocket was $14.00!!!

I had coupons & I had extra care bucks (from CVS) to put towards this purchase. Normally I would spend 14.00 on the pop and on the pop and if the pop was on sale that week it could be the pop and the dish soap or something, but anyway! I was so proud of myself! I went home and put it out to show it to Ryan and he wasn't nearly excited, he didn't jump up and down or anything?! haha!

I use couponmom.com and coupondiva.com to learn more about couponing!

I will say that it does take me a little longer to plan my shopping list and to get organized to go, but to me it's been worth the extra 20 minutes of planning time. I also shop at Jay C in town and they have great sells on baby food (and goodness knows we go through a lot of that) and if you use your Jay C card you get store coupons a lot of the time.

It's important to me to only buy stuff that we are going to use. I only cut out the coupon if it's something we use in our house anyway. We have plenty of shelf space to store a stockpile of stuff like toothpaste (got that for free a couple weeks ago), shampoo and conditioner, toilet paper and paper towel, etc... so I only buy that stuff now on sale w/ coupons and get it for a fraction of the cost I would normally buy it at if I just got it at Wal-Mart (or wherever) when I needed it.

My boys both had the sickies this weekend :( Temps, coughs, runny noses... Poor little guys were just worn out from not feeling well. We did not leave the house from Friday after school/work until this morning. Both of their temps broke yesterday and B is sounding better, but Corbin still has a bad cough. He is staying w/ my momma today and I'm thinking of getting him a dr. appointment. I'm so paranoid, but they say whooping cough is coming back and that it starts like a normal cold... blah blah blah... yah, I'm paranoid. Anyway, hopefully he'll be back to himself in a couple days!

I had some pictures of him I wanted to catch up on b/c he's just so darn cute I have to share his cuteness :) haha!

Throwing the ball to momma!

(see the ball flying at me?!)

He lovesss to throw things!

Happy boy!!

He loves to climb in the laundry basket :)

Trying to "get me" :)
It's his new thing he loves to play!

I've found him sleeping like this a couple times lately haha!

My parents used to find me in the strangest positions when I was little.

Brycen still does strange stuff like this.

It's just so funny to me that he can sleep like that!

I move him back to his back and find him in another strange position come morning time!

This is a busy week for me b/c B's birthday party is Saturday at Pump It Up. He's so excited about that and counting down! I also promised a friend I'd make four white tutus for their angel costumes for their church Christmas program. I plan on doing those Tuesday night and Wednesday. I can't believe my baby is going to be SIX in one week. He's so tall now and so skinny and just so big! He hurt his toe last night and I picked him up and his feet hang down below my knees. so.sad. He thinks it's funny of course to almost be as big as momma.

House

Okay, so before I start ranting I'll say I'm so grateful to be building the house we want to build to raise our family in on property that we've all four fallen in love with. I absolutely cannot wait to live there. When we originally knew we were going to build we were hoping by Christmas- ha, def. not happening- we had some delays and such... which is fine, but I am getting anxious to get the ball rolling. Ryan did hire someone to do the siding so he could get started on inside work. I was so excited. The guy promised it would be done in 2 weeks... um yah that was a month ago and so now I'm going to show you his progress (if you can call it that!) bahaha.

This side is completed except for the little piece at the top (which might be done now b/c I haven't been out there for a few days).

sorry the pictures are terrible, I took them at dusk so colors don't look great.

You can sort of tell how MUDDY it is out there right now. It looks so trashy. blah to winter!

mud.everywhere!

plus, the guy doing the siding is not the neatest .

he's great at putting it up (when he shows up), but he just throws his trash EVERYWHERE.

as you can see by looking by the porch.

drives me batty.

the garage side is also done, but NOTHING not one thing on the back side of the house (as you can see here).

The goal is to move in by Brycen's spring break (b/c I'm taking off that week anyway to be off w/ him while he is out of school). That is the last week of March. I'm hoping for before that actually, but probably just not going to happen. So the realistic goal is that week.

Brycen keeps saying, "When can we live at our REAL house?" lol...

I'm in no way complaining about Ryan- he is such a hard worker and is out there as much as possible. Things just take time and I realize that, but geez I wish it would speed up. Part of the frustration is also that since he is out there all the time the boys and I hardly see him. It's a sacrifice right now that I know will be worth it, but I'm ready for the finished product!

This weekend the plan is to finish pulling all the wire. Get the garage ceiling up. Get the garage doors on (which are being delivered today)! Get door handles on the entry doors.

This is all so everything will be sealed off and we can start insulation and get heat out there (so my poor hubby doesn't freeze!).

I'm ready for the dry wall so I can tell better room sizes and such.

I do not mean to sound ungrateful- I just needed to vent!

I'm super excited and just ready to get to the fun part!

I do think I have FINALLY picked out my cabinets! Whoo hoo! I did for sure pick out countertops. Ryan finalized the design of the kitchen on the computer the other night with me saying, "yes" or "no" or "move this" "move that" to him! I'm super happy with it. We changed how the island/bar is going to be and at first I thought I was mad (Ryan thought it was a space saver), but when I saw it designed out in 3d on the computer I actually like it better! (I hate when he's right!). haha!

We have to finish designing cabinets for the laundry/mud room b/c I changed how I wanted a few things in there.

Sorry for this list- it's my brain spilling out. Feels better to see it on paper (okay, the screen).

Silly Boys

I have some very crazy and silly boys on my hands. They both have HUGE personalities. I keep telling Ryan we're definitely in for it later on!

We had CMT on and Brycen was dancing (Ryan took a bazillion pictures).

Corbin was CRACKING UP during B's show :)

Brycen loves sliding on the slick floors at my parents.
I told Ryan we will probably be taking a trip to the ER after we move to our new house if he keeps up these antics on our floors.
(Thanksgiving Day he busted his lip open and got a bruise on his nose doing this!).

Who needs toys as long as you have socks and a slick floor?!

I honestly don't know where he gets this stuff at, but he makes me laugh!

Corbin smiling about his brother being silly (probably wishing he could slide on the floor too!).

He has 5 teeth now (3 top and 2 bottom).

You can see him cracking up at B here.

Melt.My.Heart!

They were "getting" each other I think.

C clapping for B.

C gets sooo worked up laughing that he gets the hiccups EVERY TIME! haha!


I love these boys- don't know what I'd do with out them!

(I posted quite a few posts, so scroll on down) :)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving morning we got up and got ready and went to Ryan's parents. Brycen was excited to play with his cousins.

Hailey, Jayce, Brycen, Mya and Corbin

We leave there early afternoon to come home and hang out and put our tree up at home.
I wanted to get a picture of the boys together- lol C is so big he almost covers B up!

talking ;)
Corbin just CRACKS UP when B chases him like this. C gets so excited he falls face first, lol.
Playing peek a boo

my life.

B was the only one I could make hold still to get a picture of their shirts :)

(thanks Kaycee!)

We put up our tree in the afternoon and decorated.

It was a lot easier this year b/c we're in the rental which is a lot smaller :)

We just put up our smaller tree this year.

Corbin wanted to help ;)

In the evening we went to my parents for supper with my dad's mom's side of the family (got that? lol). Love getting together with them. Telling old stories and there is always PLENTY of laughing to go around. We were full and exhausted when we got home and I was thankful to be warm in my pj's the next morning. I didn't go out shopping b/c Ryan was working at the new house. I did run to CVS and got a bought a new crock pot (mine broke a couple weeks ago) for 8.99! It's super nice and I love it. Ryan went early that morning (like 4am) to Lowe's and bought our kitchen appliances and my washer and dryer for the new house. I had already picked them out and they were all on sale (like we saved TWO THOUSAND dollars!). Ryan said it was well worth it to get up early and go when he realized that ;). It also wasn't crowded there- it was only him and 4 other guys who were in the store so he didn't have it too rough!

Crawling Corbin

This adorable little guy is EVERYWHERE now... He started crawling a couple weeks ago (one week after he turned 9 mo.). At first he was super slow and it was so funny, but I can't say that he is slow about it anymore! He is quite the handful these days- especially w/ the Christmas tree up! I wouldn't change it for the world- I LOVE every second of running after his cute little self!

I mean really who wouldn't want to chase after this face!?
These were the day after he started crawling... going for his blocks!

That face is so serious! He was really figuring it out!

I was so glad he started crawling while we were at home and not while he was at the sitter... that's what I hate- thinking I might miss out on a "first". Plus I was off the whole next day after he started crawling so I got to enjoy it as he discovered what all he could do!

American Education Week

The week before Thanksgiving they had American Education Week at school. They learned about a different era/theme each day and had a special program and a special treat each day. I missed day one taking a picture (it was jazz day and he wore a fedora hat and looked adorable)!

Day 2 was 50's day. You can't tell so much in the picture, but his hair was slicked w/ gel (he thought that was super cool) and parted to the side.

Day 3 was 60's day. So we did tie dye :) I was going to cut holes in his old jeans, but it was super cold that day so I didn't.

Day 4 was Cultural Day so he wore a Hawaiian shirt. (which was about two sizes too small it looks like! haha- he has grown about 2 in. since summer).


Day 5 was cowboy-western day and he of course wore his boots and hat and a western shirt (actually the one he wore in his pictures Mandi and Andre took).


He had so much fun that week at the special programs. I love how PES does so many fun things for the kids while teaching them as well! (Now, why wasn't it like that when I was there?!) haha!