Stockin' Up on Cookies

I went in to Kroger today to buy some refrigerated packages of cookies since they were on sale and I had coupons for $1 off of 2 packages (the deal going on through next Tuesday is their BUY 4, Save $4 Promo). When I went to that section, there was a coupon machine spitting out coupons for $1.25 off of 2 packages of cookie dough. Score!
SOOO, I kind of ended up with 8 packages of cookie dough, which ended up being a good thing, BECAUSE, Pillsbury and Kroger are currently running a promo where a catalina spits out when you buy a certain number of participating items (i.e., Buy (4) and get a $1 catalina off your next order, buy (5) and get $2, buy (6) and get $3). So, on top of my great cookie deal, I ended up with a catalina for $3 off my next shopping order!

Cost per package = $0.87 and that's not taking into account that I have $3 off my next order!

If you run out to get this deal, remember this: to get the sale price on the dough, you have to buy in multiples of 4!

Guess I'll be bringing cookies to home team tomorrow night!!

I'm a LumberJACK

For Halloween, Jack dressed up as a lumberJACK. Not the SFA kind, because he's an AGGIE, but the kind that cuts down trees. Since we're a little tight on the budget this year, we had to make do with what we had.

He already had the plaid shirt and jeans. That was easy. I found the boots as a resale shop for $5. I made his suspenders for $4. I got his hat at Old Navy when they were having their 'Buy one adult item, get one child item free' promotion (which means I got me a tank top!). And Josh made the axe out of some stuff he had in the garage. Looks real, huh? I promise it's not sharp.
We really wanted to draw a beard on him, but he drools like no other and I figured he'd just smear paint all over his face. One less thing to have to worry about.

First Haircut (Kind of)

Josh and I started giving Jack haircuts when he was about 9 months old... we'd sit him in his bumbo out in the backyard (just in a diaper), cut his hair and hose him off. :)

We decided he needed one GOOD first haircut before he had his 18 month pictures done. So, we went to Cool Cuts for Kids. He wasn't sure what to think.I think he's wondering who this lady is.

He got to drive a taxi cab. There wasn't room for passengers, though.But then, he took a turn for the worse.I guess it took longer than he had expected. Oh well.

I think we'll go back to me cutting it, though. It was expensive!!

Jack's Room

Okay, so this is my VERY FIRST link up EVER to another blog! I'm a couple days late, but oh well. So, Kelly's Korner's 'Show us your Life' this week is NURSERIES AND KID'S ROOMS. Most of you have seen pictures of Jack's room before from an older post, but I decided to take some fresh pics.

We added these shelves to one of the walls that was bare when Jack was first born. We found the fun monkey book ends and monkey picture frame at Kohl's. Fitting, because Jack is a little monkey. The Snoopy is mine. Don't tell, but I slept with my Snoopy doll up through college (and maybe for a little while after Josh and I got married). Josh thought it was time for me to "let go", so I grew up and boxed him up. So glad I was able to use it in Jack's room! Disregard the mess, but I wanted to show off the closet. Jack's room is tiny, but boy, he's got quite the closet! So, he has to share it with some of our other belongings... suitcases, old comforters, lamp shades, picnic basket... to name a few. You can't tell, but there is a black toy chest I got at Canton at the bottom right of his closet that I hope to pull out for him when he's a little older. Right now, I set diapers and wipes on it.

This bookcase came from one of my most FAVORITE furniture stores in Dallas. If you haven't been to Nadeau Imports, you need to check it out!The verse above the mirror is part of a passage in 1st Samuel that I prayed daily when we were trying to get pregnant. Because He answered our prayer, we've committed Jack's life over to the Lord. We pray daily that Jack will grow up to know the Lord and that He will use Jack in an incredible way.

A shelf I almost gave away, but fortunately had a place for it! The framed picture is from a dear friend from our church. It is of a child's hands clasp together with a special prayer written on it.My most favorite part of Jack's room are the huge letters above his crib, BUT I completely forgot to get a picture of them! Unfortunately, Jack's already in bed and I'm up WAY past my bedtime, so you can check out more pictures of the room HERE.

Hope you enjoyed your visit!

Bustin' A Move

Jack likes to dance. He gets his groovy moves from his dad, not me. Promise. Thought I'd share a couple of clips with you - maybe you'll get a kick out of them like I did while I was filming him!

Jack and Spaghetti

Jack LOVES spaghetti. He's not using forks or spoons yet, so this is how he eats it. Never thought I'd let him get this messy, EVER, But what can you do besides sit back and take pictures?

Lake Meredith

We went to Amarillo for a few days last week to visit my family and for a friend's wedding. While we were there, my daddy wanted to take us to Lake Meredith where he fishes EVERY Thursday evening until about midnight. He gets home from work about 6PM, gets dressed, packs his fishing gear, and heads out. He doesn't even eat dinner. He'll pack some crackers and a banana to have down at the lake. I remember going with him as a little girl. He just started getting back into fishing a year or two ago, so it's almost like he went about 15-20 years without going! He enjoys it so much, so I'm glad he got to share a part of it with us last weekend.

So, Grandpa wanted to take Jack out to the marina to look at these huge fish. Don't ask me what kind they are because I haven't the slightest idea. You can buy popcorn in the store there to feed the fish. We stood at the rails and threw popcorn out to the fish and they pretty much devoured it! Jack on the other hand would grab a handful of popcorn, hold it out above the water, then cram the popcorn into his mouth instead of feeding the fish. And he'd laugh while doing it, like he knew he was teasing the fish. Those suckers were fat (probably from all the popcorn) and were easily close to 2 feet long. They'd come up out of the water to get their treats.

This Week's Deals

So, I wanted to share my purchases from today with you guys. This was all from Target:

My Shopping List:
(6) Shout Stain Removers - $2.24 ea
(2) Vaseline Body Lotion - $2.99 ea
(2) Degree Men's Deoderant - $2.34 ea
(2) Suave for Men Shampoo/Conditioner - $1.68 ea
(1) Skintimate Shaving Gel - $1.97 ea
(1) 375 ct. Q-tips - $2.15 ea
(2) Wishbone Salad Dressings - $1.89 ea
(2) Chef Boyardee Ravioli Meals - $0.80 ea
(2) Del Monte Fruit Cups - $1.82 ea

TOTAL SHOULD BE ABOUT $42

About what I paid for each item (when I added it up, it came up a little more than what I actually spent - the coupons on the receipt are hard to track!!):
(6) Shout Stain Removers - $0.57 ea (had to get 6 of them to get them this cheap - I know what you're thinking - "REALLY, 6? You won't use them all!" My reasoning for getting 6 is that 6 is the same cost as about 1-1/2 bottles.)
(2) Vaseline Body Lotion - $0.49 ea (could've gotten them free I went with smaller bottle)
(2) Degree Men's Deoderant - $0.34 ea
(2) Suave for Men Shampoo/Conditioner - $0.43 ea
(1) Skintimate Shaving Gel - $1.22 ea
(1) 375 ct. Q-tips - $0.85 (could've gotten them cheaper if gone with smaller pkg - $0.47 if you get the size smaller, and I think there's even a smaller pkg if you wanted them free)
(2) Wishbone Salad Dressings - $1.28 ea
(2) Chef Boyardee Ravioli Meals -FREE
(2) Del Monte Fruit Cups - $0.82 ea

TOTAL ON RECEIPT = $11.56

I'm missing a Shout container in the picture because I gave one to my friend Catherine who provided me with one of the coupons. Thanks Cat!!

What stinks is that I could've only paid $1.56 out of pocket by using the $10 gift card that I earned on prior purchases... but I forgot. Oh well.

Check out COUPONING101.COM to see how you can get deals like this!!

Great Deals

Today I went to Target and got:
(1) Loaf of Sourdough Bread $0.99
(3) Archer Farms Fruit Strips on sale for $2 each
(2) 3 pk of Shick Quattro Razors for $6.49 each
(4) packs of Danonino Yogurt on sale for $1.66 each
Total should be: $26.61

BUT I used the following coupons:
B2G1 Free - Fruit Strips (-2.00)
(2) $3.00 off on the razors (-6.00)
(2) $1.00 off on the razors that were peelies on the product (-1.97 - not sure why they didn't take the whole dollar off on the 2nd coupon?)
(4) $1.00 off on Danonino Yogurt (-4.00)
Total: $12.61 (there wasn't tax, which I figured there would be tax on the razors, but nope!!)

AND I got a $5 gift card for buy two packs of razors, so it was like paying $7.61 for everything!

WHAT A DEAL!!

July

We started off July with a playdate with Layne and Clay. Layne is a long time friend of mine from Amarillo. Her son Clay is about 2 months younger than Jack. He is precious! They just moved back to Amarillo which makes both Jack and I very sad, but we will make a point to see them again when we are in town. We spent the morning swimming, then had lunch and played inside. We came in just before a down pour of rain, so it was just perfect!On the 8th, I celebrated my 28th birthday with my best friend Kristyn. We went to PF Changs again this year - our favorite place! Kristyn then introduced me to Charmin' Charlies - loved it! She gave me a gift card to there for Christmas that I held on to for when we could go together, so I was excited until I realized that I forgot it at home - what was I thinking?? BUT, as we pulled in, she handed me a gift to open and it was a Nothing Bundt Cake (YUMMMMMMM) AND another gift card for my birthday!! PERFECT! Jack is a handful. Now that he's walking, he's everywhere and into everything. He likes to climb into his toy basket, climb onto the coffee table, get shoes out of our closet and drag them through the house, pull trash from the trash can, pull things off of the shelf in the pantry, take things out of the fridge when I've got it opened... and the list goes on. BUT, the little booger is still a cutie and I love him more every day!

He likes to hang out under the kitchen table. Not sure why, but he plays under there a lot. He also likes to go through the legs like it's a maze. There's a video below. He's such a stinker!!

Jack Starts Walking

How could I forget Jack's big milestone!! Jack started walking about 2 weeks after he turned 1. Here's a video I shot with my phone. Sorry it's not of great quality!

June

So, I know I'm a little behind again. I just don't ever think to blog when I've got time to myself! I started reading again. I picked up a Karen Kingsbury book that I started before I went back to work LAST August (of 2009!!). I got halfway through it and stopped reading it when life became chaotic. SO, I'm re-reading it to try and catch myself back up! I forgot how much I loved her books!

Anyway, June was a fun month! Jack got into the pool for the first time this summer! He loves the water!! He doesn't enjoy getting dunked in, but he tolerates it the first few times. Here he is at the Franklin's house. They have this super huge slide in their backyard that spits you out into the pool. They think one day Jack will be ready to go down it. I think I won't ever be ready to go down that - EVER.

That green thing in the back right is part of the slide that Mike built. Yes, there is water coming down it. The start of the slide is above the clouds - it's HUGE. (Okay, maybe not above the clouds, but still....)

I had to throw in this picture, too. This is our super hero, Jack Jack, the drool machine. He managed to twirl his bib around like a cape. :) That's it.

May... Jack Turns O-N-E

Our little boy turned ONE this last May. I can't believe it. I was laid off at the right time because initially, I wasn't going to throw a party. No cake, no decorations, no friends. Maybe some family, but that was it. There just wasn't any time to think about it. So, when I lost my job, I kept busy with his birthday party. It was so much fun to plan it! I didn't know where to start and had my friend Pam help guide me. I borrowed SEVERAL of her ideas, so don't think I'm creative and came up with these on my own!

I decided early on that I wanted to make Jack a matching birthday bib and hat. I made the applique (the "1" and the "jack") and got the white fabric at JoAnn's. I wanted the bib and hat to last, so my awesome friend Lisa (who also makes cute handmade children's clothing and accessories - check out her BLOG) embroidered around the appliques and ended up making the hat, too! Isn't she awesome! For the bib, I traced one we already had as a pattern and went to town!

My friend Pam did a door hanging for her son's party that I LOVED, so I made one, too. It's supposed to match the appliques above, but the green is a different color. Oh well. Jack didn't care.I went a little banner crazy for the party. We had banners galore.

Banners in the entry... In the kitchen...On his high chair...At the mantle...There was another over our living room windows, but I didn't think they were blog worthy.

I painted these block letters that I got at Hobby Lobby on CLEARANCE. Yipee! And the daylilies were from the front yard.

I personalized the party favors for the kids. We had a range of ages, so I wanted to be sure each kid got something appropriate for their age. AND I made balloon animals for each of the kids to take home.

We copied Pam's son's cake and got the same design for Jack. I just LOVED how the cake turned out! Here's his smash cake.And the main birthday cake.

The menu consisted of Crock-Pot BBQ, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad, Rolls, and Chicken Nuggets for the kiddos. I'm weird and like to wrap all my plasticware with fun napkins and tie them with ribbon. Josh thinks I'm crazy for putting in the effort.

So, on to the party.... Here's Jack before cake. He hardly wore his birthday hat. I was so sad!Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...Yummy...

After cleaning Jack up, we opened his gifts. He's trying to decide which gift to open first.Showing Bella his new truck.See and Say. Remember this when it had the pull string?Cason helping Jack get the train out of the box.This Alphabet Train is the best toy ever. He loved it instantly and was pushing it around the house during the party.This piece connects to the train and you can push your kid around while he's sitting on it. We did that for a while and got tired so disconnected the two pieces. He's wondering who's going to push him around in this picture.Our little family...Jack and the grandparents. Notice Jack is STILL on his train. This was after just about everyone had already left.

And here's a picture of a worn out momma and child. What a party! My sweet baby boy is all grown up...