Sunday, May 31, 2009

Coupons

The last couple of months I have been clipping coupons and trying to cut our grocery bill down.  I've learned a lot and I've realized how much money I use to throw away - why I never saw all these deals last year is beyond me.  I've got some websites that tell me when to use my coupons, etc.  I wanted to share my latest grocery store run:

1 pkg. of solo cups  ($2.85)
2 1lb. bags of rice  ($2.78)
2 Lipton Family Tea Bags  ($4.58)
2 French's mustard  ($3.00)
1 French's Worcestshire  ($1.89)
1 Black Pepper  ($3.79)
2 20lb. bags of dog food  ($29.98)

For a Grand Total of $53.10 in groceries

I paid $16.82

This was at Harris Teeter during their triple coupon week.  I usually shop at Publix and always save at least $50.  I've joked to David that I'm going to need my own set of shelves in the garage for all my stockpiling!  I love this coupon/bargain shopper business - it's a game and I'm killing it  - can you tell I'm a little bit competitive?

More to come about the children but I couldn't help share my good news.  Who knows?  Maybe I've inspired you to start clipping and join in on my savings!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Happy Memorial Day


We have had quite a busy Memorial Day wkend and it was all fabulous!  Saturday we dedicated to the yard and left Monday for pure enjoyment.  So, bright and early we headed to Beachcomber Park out at Kiawah.  We were one of the first people there.  Last year, Hughes would not even go near the water.  He would only play in the sand.  Banks wasn't even crawling so he played with whatever was nearby.  BIG CHANGE this year!  Hughes is a waterbug.  All he did was play in the water.  Banks took some warming up but eventually he got waterlogged, too! 

Brothers
 Digging


He was so excited he could hardly contain  himself.


Banks taking a juice break.


Miller about to "water" Conley.


Hughes showing William the shell he found which happened to be the home of a hermit crab.

Memorial Day 2008 - what a difference a year makes!
Banks and Thomas just hanging out.

Hughes scared of the water.















Tuesday, May 19, 2009

An Experiment

Apparently, David is not the only one in our household that can do experiments - I can!  Lately, when I've asked Hughes if was a boy or girl, he would always respond with girl!  I even changed it up with boy or monkey, boy or turkey.  When he answered he was a monkey or a turkey, I just contributed it to him teasing me.  I wasn't that concerned by it - I kind of thought it was funny.  But the more I thought about it, I did get a little concerned.  So, I spoke to his speech teacher about it and she asked him the same question but with the choices reversed and he answered correctly.  So, we just figured he was repeating whatever the last choice was.  

Yesterday I did my experiment with the help of some jelly beans (thanks mom for the suggestion!).  I sat Hughes down and asked him "are you a girl or a boy", he answered boy, I asked " do you want candy or a kiss", he answered kiss so I gave him a kiss.  I told him if he wanted candy then he needed to say "candy".  We went through boy or girl with him saying the correct answer, we did what's mommy with him saying the correct answer, etc.  

All in all, I would say my experiment was a success and I got the positive results that I was looking for!  I learned that Hughes does know he's a boy and he's just not that interested in answering my questions when candy is not involved.

Day at the Park

With law school over for the summer, we decided that Saturday would be a family day at the park.  We took a picnic lunch, bathing suits, and bikes for the boys to get out some energy.  We started at the Spray 'n Play where Hughes ran like a wild man through the water spouts.  It was surprising to me b/c sometimes he's all about the spouts and sometimes he's scared of them so you never know which kid you're going to get!  Banks, on the other hand, has always been a little terrified of the big water spouts so he just sat on our laps most of the time.  Then, we had our picnic lunch and then ventured over to the newly redone playground - it is awesome and Hughes and Banks are big fans!  Well, I can say Banks is a big fan.  Everytime we've been there, Banks does all the slides and playground stuff.  While Hughes looks for sticks on the outskirts.  So, this particular day Hughes got Banks interested in this oak tree that was beside one of the picnic tables and they explored all around it.  


Checking out the whole on the side of the oak tree.


Banks hanging out for a picture with Dad's help.


I think this may be one of the best pictures of Hughes I've ever taken - he's smiling, dimples are showing and he's looking at the camera :)   What more could I ask for?

Do you see the halos on top of their heads?  


Banks enjoyed being pushed on his tricycle but later decided that he wanted to ride Hughes' bike.  So I ended up pushing Banks on Hughes' bike and pulling the tricycle behind me while Hughes walked.

Action shot

Not a great picture of myself but a picture to document that I was there and do participate in their lives just normally with a camera in front of my face :)

After this shot, the boys ran out of steam.  We were about 3/4 of the way through the mile loop so we sent dad to go get the car and we backtracked to the fishing dock.  On our way back to the dock, we saw a snake slither across the path in front of us.  Hughes was very excited and wanted to run up ahead and catch it.  I held him back thankfully and told him the snake was on his way home and that we needed to let him go home.  I was praying that home was far, far away from us!

Monday, May 11, 2009

Mother's Day






Mother's Day was great - we had 10 adults and 7 children over for a lunch of shrimp n' grits, butter beans, watermelon, and biscuits.  It was delicious!  I did not get a family picture but I did capture some action photos of the kids playing in the pirate pool.  Needless to say, I had a nice nap after everyone left!  It was a great day!

Soon to come . . .


fresh vegetables out of my backyard!  The squash have blossomed and are growing.  We'll probably be eating fresh squash next week!  The tomatoes are surely growing as well as the cilantro and bell pepper.  The only casualty of the garden has been the cucumbers thanks to Charlie - he trampled them a few too many times so I replaced them last week and put up a little fence to keep him out!  


In case you're wondering, the white stuff you see poking out from the mulch is newspaper.  I put it in between the rows so that weeds wouldn't grow there.  I also have a stray cucumber plant at the bottom left of my planter.  I guess I dropped a seed when planting them originally.

Leapin' Lizards




Hughes found a frog leaping around the bushes last week.  He was intensely staring at it.  David arrived home just in the nick of time to pick it up and give the boys an upclose look.  It took some convincing but both boys eventually touched it.  Of course, the frog urinated all over David's hand but he held strong and did not let the frog escape.  We released it back into the bushes where Hughes continued to look for it for the next 15 minutes.





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