Little Teacher

I caught Morgan and Ava playing school the other day. It was the cutest thing.....Morgan with her "flashcards" and Ava laying on the floor naming the pictures. Morgan hands out stickers to Ava for good behavior or getting answers correct! It's too cute! It's also nice that she entertains Ava for short periods of time to allow me to get things done! Guess this makes up for all the fighting and screaming they do the other 95% of the time!

Sunday Savings!

Over the past couple months I have become slightly addicted to using coupons and saving a little extra cash! It started out by running across money saving tips on some of the blogs I follow and then snowballed from there! I guess with the economy the way it is, every one is trying to save a little extra money. I have used coupons in the past, but didn't really know HOW to use them. Now, I know the goal is to save money in general and not see how much you can spend in order to use a coupon! I have been very careful about buying only the things we will use. And.....despite what my friend Angie says, there ARE a lot of name brand items that DO taste better than the generic! So, there are times when I do opt to go for the name brand even if it costs a little more - but always try to pair it with a coupon and also what is on sale! I would rather buy what I know we will eat, rather than going the cheaper route and buy generic that will get thrown away! Oatmeal, cereal and vegetables are big ones in our house that we absolutely will not eat generic. I also found a cool idea on a blog I read for a coupon binder to store all those coupons in an organized fashion. It has been very helpful to have things where I can find them. Grocery shopping takes twice as long when you are searching for that coupon that you know you have! But.....if you decide to make a binder of your own.....if it falls on the floor at Wal-Mart it pops open and scatters all over the place!! If you are interested in money saving tips you can check out the links on the sidebar of my blog! Now, on to my savings for the day! I am sure others have done much better than this - but these are things I would buy anyway......so why not pair it with a sale and coupon!!!

Wal-Greens

2 Boxes Frosted Flakes - 1.99 ea - 1.50/2 coupon
1 box Puffs plus - 1.59 - WAG coupon - .89 - MFG coupon .25
2 Degree Deodorant - 2.99 ea - WAG coupon - 1.99 ea - MFG coupon 1.00/2
3 cans Campbell's Chick Soup - 1.39 ea - WAG coupon .69 ea - MFG .40/3
Mascara on sale 4.99 - MFG coupon 2.00

Total - 28.64
WAG Coupon Savings: 4.63
WAG Advertised Savings: 7.02
MFG Coupons: 7.15 (includes $2 RR from last week)

Total OOP: 9.84

Dillon's

Dillon's is having a Mega Sale Event this week. If you buy 10 participating items you get $5 off at the register. I tried to pair coupons with these items and did pretty well. They were out of stock on a couple that I will try to see if they have Monday or Tuesdays. Green Giant Steamers would end up being free with double coupon! My list is way to long to post, but I bought Propel, Quaker Oatmeal, Nature Valley Granola bars, Cream Cheese, Kraft Cheese Campbell's Soup, Goldfish & Pizza Rolls.

Total OOP: $44.23
Vendor Coupons: $27.40
Multi Coupons: 3.70
Store Coupons: $23.13
Total Savings: 54.23

An example of what I think is a pretty good deal was:

Quaker Oatmeal - On sale for 2.59 - 2.09 when you buy 10 participating items - 1.00 MFG coupon - so $1.09 for a box of oatmeal. See how that works??? Sometimes, with double coupons, you can get stuff for free! I love how this works! Yes, it takes a lot of time, but isn't keeping more money in your pocket worth it?

Never Been Kissed.......Yet!

Morgan is in first grade and will turn 7 in a few short weeks! She is a typical little girl - loves having friends, recess and PE. She gets sad when no one will play with her or do what she wants to do and she tells me who was nice to her and who wasn't nice, on a daily basis. She thinks boys are yucky, but talks with excitement when she tells me that she plays cops and robbers with the boys or that the boys chase her! (Don't you all remember those boys when you were in school?). Dana picked up the girls from daycare on Thursday, and I happened to beat them home. The first words out of her mouth when she walked through the door was, "Mom, Zachary tried to kiss me today, but I put my hands up like a book in front of his face!" What??? Are you kidding me? She is in first grade! Lucky for me she stopped him and still thinks boys are GROSS! I am guessing in a few short years this sweet, innocent girl, is going to turn my world upside-down! Let's hope we can hold on to that innocence for a little bit longer!

Birthday Wishes!

Ava turned 2 today! I can't believe that it has been 2 years since she has entered this world. She has brought so much joy (and energy) to our house and lives over the past 2 years. I can't imagine what our lives would be like without her! She keeps us all on our toes pretty much every minute of every day! I have so many hopes and dreams for her as she grows - too many to name. I look forward to everyday to see how she grows and changes.

This is the reason I usually buy a cake!
She loves bunnies - even when they come in the form of a potato!

Birthday kiss from her sister!

Happy Birthday, beautiful girl! My wish for you is all the happiness in the world and a life full of LOVE!

Aloha!

Who would have thought that a 2 year old could fit into clothes made for her Build a Bear?? I guess they can! I think she is dreaming of white sandy beaches and piña coladas!!!

Baking

I love to bake! I don't do it often, but once in awhile the girls and I will spend an entire weekend making brownies, cookies and even trying new things. Over Christmas Break we had to try out Morgan's new baking supplies. She got an Easy Bake Oven and cupcake maker for Christmas. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work! It seems like it would be just as quick and easy to just whip up a batch of brownies in the oven, but I guess to a 6 year old girl it's just not the same! Of course Ava is a copy cat and wants to do everything her big sister does!

Comforts

We all have those certain things that we use as comforts during difficult times. Comforts can also be used when we are bored, tired, happy, sad - really anytime. They can be good for us, or not so good. Some people smoke, some turn to chocolate, and others turn to more healthier alternatives like exercise. When we are babies our comfort most likely comes from those that nurture and take care of us or for some babies they figure out how to comfort themselves by sucking a thumb, finger, binkie, blanket, etc. etc. Sometimes those "habits" or things that comfort us keep us going from day to day. Many of us wouldn't know what do to without them. Some of us try to give them up as New Year's Resolutions, but find ourselves giving in to the old comforts within days of giving them up. They are a part of us and who we are. Tonight was a difficult night for all of us. Mostly, Ava. Ava is a thumb sucker and has been since birth. I think I actually have an ultrasound picture of her sucking her thumb! I was okay with having a thumb sucker because it meant that she was able to self soothe. She could comfort herself when needed. She was able to put herself to sleep. I could lay her in her crib wide awake and she would fall asleep without a fuss. Morgan, on the other hand, was not a self soother. She had to be rocked and rocked and rocked some more until she fell asleep way past age 2. I was excited that Ava was able to soothe herself. But.....she is almost 2 and Dana and I felt it was time to start weaning that thumb away. Problem is......it's attached! My brother found success with his daughter's thumb sucking by using STOP. It looks like a little bottle of nail polish and you paint it on their thumb nail. Apparently, it tastes so horrible it will keep them from putting their thumb in their mouth. Well, our bottle of STOP arrived in the mail today so we put it on this evening. It was a pretty traumatic experience! Poor Ava cried and cried. She put her thumb in her mouth as she always does when she gets tired and got the nasty tasted in her mouth. She tried to rub the taste off her tongue, spit it out, or began to drool. When 10:30 pm rolled around and she was still awake I was feeling pretty guilty. The poor thing couldn't get to sleep. I had to rock her and rock her and rock her with gentle reminders not to put her thumb in her mouth each time I noticed it creeping closer and closer. The cries started to fade by 10:30, but I could tell she was exhausted. As I type this post, I wonder if we made the right decision taking this comfort from her at such a young age? Is it too soon? Are we rushing her to grow up too fast? She's no longer a baby and is creeping quickly to the preschool years. There are so many benefits to having a thumb sucker, but on the other hand so many cons. Her teeth are pushing outward, she has become so dependent on it and the longer we wait the harder it will be right? You don't know how close I came to scrubbing the nasty stuff off with soap and water just to take it all away...but I didn't. Tonight may be a long night, but tomorrow will be a new day and we can see how it goes. As with any New Year's Resolution, we need to take it day by day. Wish us luck!

Holiday Highlights!

The holidays are over and today is my last official day off before heading back to work on Monday! I feel relaxed and refreshed, but am still not ready to send Morgan back to school and Ava back to daycare. We had a wonderful 2 weeks off together - one week traveling and spending time with family and friends and one week just doing nothing and everything together as a family here at home. I wish everyday could be like that - sleeping in, snuggling on the couch, playing with toys and doing what we want to do when we want to do it! But....I guess that's just not how things work around here and the bills need to be paid - so back to work I go!

I want to share a few of our holiday highlights with everyone. It's been quite some time since I've posted and we have had a lot of fun over the past couple weeks.

1. Left Kansas on December 19 for Iowa. Morgan got out of school 1/2 day early so we could brave the icy roads up north!

2. Arrived at Grandma and Grandpa Heinen's house in one piece (Nikki was a little nervous especially south of Des Moines - way too much ice for me)!

3. Spent a short amount of time with Dana's brothers a sisters before they had to brave the blizzard and head back safely to their homes.

4. Morgan and Ava enjoyed spending time with all their cousins.

5. Morgan assembled a gingerbread house with Grandma Sharon.

6. When the blizzard passed, we spent a day of shopping in the cute little downtown shops (the pet store was my favorite), checking out the POW Nativity in Algona, and driving by the coolest decorated house I have ever seen.

7. Our time ended with Grandma and Grandpa Heinen and we headed to Osage to visit close friends. It was so much fun to spend time with friends, as well as watch our kids play together.

8. After a few short hours in Osage we headed out yet again for my dad's in Waterloo and my brother's in Cedar Rapids. We opened gifts, attended church on Christmas Eve and enjoyed Santa's arrival on Christmas morning. We also visited one of Dana's classmates in Cedar Falls & got a tour of my brother's new house that is almost finished!

9. Morgan's favorite gifts included roller skates, Wii from Santa, an Easy Bake oven, cupcake maker & various baking supplies, as well as the misc. fun stuff she got from everyone!! Ava enjoyed opening her many Little People sets, but I think the best gift of all was when she opened the baby doll from Grandma Sue and we all got to see the reaction on her face, the big eyes, and screams "WOW! A baby doll!! OH WOW!!" It was priceless (and caught on video)!!

10. Our time in Iowa had to end & Nikki NEEDED to be back in Kansas without so much snow! We left for home on December 26 with safe travels. The further south we headed the less and less snow we saw. The temperature back at home that day was close to 70!! That was crazy to see since a few short days earlier is was -13 in Iowa!!

11. We spent many days unpacking, doing laundry, organizing to make room for the many generous gifts we received and playing with new toys. Morgan and I especially enjoyed getting better and better at Mario Cart on Wii.

12. Nikki made a trip to the doctor for an upper respiratory infection and was put on antibiotics and prednisone to clear things up and breathe better. (Must have been all the snow that made me sick!)

13. On New Year's Eve we spent the evening with good friends, good food, Margarita's, and yet again - more Wii!!


14. New Year's day was spent in our PJ's and sleeping in. Nikki then spent the evening eating take out and watching movies with a girlfriend! That almost never happens! Who has the time?

15. Saturday will bring us roller skating at the roller rink on Morgan's new skates and then Sunday will be spent getting organized for life back in the real world! So sad to see the holidays pass, but excited to see what is to come in 2009!

16. My hopes for 2009 - Health and happiness for my family and friends, more time with my girls, the strength and ambition to get on that treadmill over and over again & to eat more fruits and vegetables, time to laugh and play and be silly, more shopping trips and get togethers with my girlfriends, dates with my husband (hint hint), and just to BE HAPPY!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! MAY ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS FOR 2009 COME TRUE!