Hmm

It cracked us up to put Ellie in the Johnny Jumper.  She is almost 3 years old, but such a light-weight and loves to jump. See pics to the left.  She enjoys it, too, but it is not as comfortable as when she was a baby and had a diaper for more padding!

 

My Ayla is 4 months old now!!!  Wow, she is getting so big and today we got her an exersaucer.  It is so fun to see her learn to reach her hands out and touch things.  Such a delight she is to our whole family.  She is so patient.  She used to just lay down and go right to sleep for her naps, but sometimes now she cries.  So, I eventually pick her up and either nurse her or snuggle her with her binky and her Oso and she falls right to sleep.  I have never been one to let my babies cry for too long.  If I can comfort them, I like to.  God comforts me all the time if I will allow Him to.  It is just harder work later when I just want them to go to bed easy.  But eventually they can all get themselves to bed. 'Tis just a season this is and I really don't want it to go by too fast!

 

Like Sabrina, I can't believe how time has flown. I have been out of highschool for 15 years!!!  And I desperately need to go clothes shopping.  That is off the subject, but I don't have any hip clothes.  How did that happen?  So, I hope to vamp the wardrobe here soon. I can be a mom and still look great, right?  One of my friends dresses so cute and she is a little older than me.  And the other day Sienna asked me how old my friend was.  She was shocked that she was older than me.  She said because of the way she dresses (as opposed to how I dress).  Good thing I am a fairly confident person because that comment could have hurt, but it made me laugh.  Did I mention that I really need to go shopping?

The Grocery Game Update

Okay, this is so much fun!  I am averaging about $100 savings each week on my receipt.  The grocery clerk even commented about how much I saved!  So, I told her about the game. 

 

Many of my friends are doing it and we are all having so much fun getting deals.  One friend got 8 deodorants for free!  I am stocked up on cereal for 3 months & it only cost me $15.  Sunday nigt I spent $40 but saved $70!! 

 

I will definitely keep playing this game!

 

P.S.  My kids love it because I have brought home many surprises for them that I always say no to at the store, but when I get them for so cheap it is fun to see them light up when I pull the snack out of the cupboard.

One Hard Homeschool Day

And things were going so well this year...

Yesterday my third grader was in the depths of despair because she "couldn't" study her spelling words (all 6 of them!)  This led into a 2+ hour ordeal of trying to get her to control her emotions and rise up out of the feel sorry for herself pits.  Then my three year old (who is still potty-training) pees on the baby's bassinet and then a little later poops in the living room, since we hadn't got any undies on her yet!  And while this is going on, my three month old is crying having woken up from her nap!  Needless to say, I shed a few tears yesterday.  But in the end, my eight year old learned about choosing to utter praise to God when we don't feel like it in order to allow God to lift our spirits.  She went up in her room, turned on some music and danced her little heart out.  She came down in much better spirits.  And the rest of our day went great!  My daughter even apologized at dinner for the way she acted.  This on her own accord without my encouragement!  Yay, we are making headway even though at times we feel we go backwards.

The Grocery Game

My friend, Janae, got me started on a great money-saving plan.  She has tried out something called www.thegrocerygame.com  for about 8-10 weeks so far and has saved her husband $150 off their monthly grocery bill.  She feeds a family of 7 (5 sons)!  So, I have just begun trying this plan out and it is really fun and addicting in a good way!  I went for my weekly shopping trip Sunday night and spent $117, but I saved $96! 

 

If you are one who does not like to cut coupons or even if you do (I never use them), this is a great, easy way to make use of them and not waste your time!  You basically stockpile the coupons from the Sunday paper and this website tells you when that item is on sale at your grocery store at its rock-bottom price and instructs you to use the coupon that week.  All I have done is put the date on the front of the pack of coupons, filed it and when it is time to use it they tell you what date to get the coupon from.  So it does not take much to find the coupon and use it that week!  You even get things for free sometimes!  Not only are you using the coupons, but they tell you what is on sale without a coupon and what is on sale that is not even in the stores weekly ad. 

 

I'll let you know how it continues to go for me!