Couponing again

I went on a little couponing trip today, determined to find some good deals using the huge stash of coupons I've accumulated.  Here is what I got for $8.75 (including tax!):

Let me break it down for you!

First stop, CVS:

-They were out of stock on one item I wanted, but I ended up getting two different items. 

-Transaction #1: Two Skinny Cow candies.  They were $.99 each, and you got $.99 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB) back (you can use these on your next transaction).  Well, I had a Buy one, Get one free coupon, so I got 2 of these candies for $.99, and then got $.99 ECB to use on my next transaction.  (Plus!  An added bonus.  For some reason, an extra $2.00 in ECB printed on my receipt!)

Out of pocket: $1.05                         ECB: $2.99

-Transaction #2: One Gillette Fusion Pro-Glide razor.  It was $9.99, and I had a $4.00 off coupon plus the $2.99 in ECBs.  So, with taxes, I paid $3.56 for this razor.  Then, I got $5 back in ECBs!

Out of pocket: $3.56                          ECB: $5.00

So, if you figure in the free $5 off I have on my next CVS purchase, my total for these three items was -$.39!

Second stop, Ingles:

-Here is what I got, with the price after coupons and savings:

• Box of Frosted Mini Wheats: $1.80 (normally $3.98)
• Bottle of Pantene Pro-V Shampoo- free! (normally $4.48)
• 12 Sprout Organic baby foods: $.56 each (normally $1.04 each)

With taxes, I spent $9.14 and saved $12.42 total.

So, combining both shopping trips, I only "spent" $8.75 (with tax) for things that would normally total to be $24.39 (without tax). That's a savings of 64%!

So, now, Taylor will be organically fed, I'll get my fiber in the morning, Stephen's face will be nice and smooth, my hair will be squeaky clean (and smell good, too!), and I'll have some sweet snacks to get me through my first day with the kids tomorrow.  Success!

Art Display

This was my activity for today- I came up with a new way to display all of Sydney's artwork. 

Deja-Vu

One of the many benefits of having two girls is that I can re-use all of Sydney's clothes!  Here are a few shots of Sydney and Taylor in the same outfits...

 

Typical Sydney

This video gives you an idea of how silly, smart, business-savvy, and crazily organized (did you see that straight line of letters?!) she is.

Thank goodness it's washable!

Summer Recap

Where the heck did this summer go????  I had such a fun, amazing summer with my two girls (and my sweet hubby, can't forget about him :).  I'm so glad I decided to keep the girls out of daycare the whole summer.  I'm sad that now I'm back at work and they're back in daycare all day... but, such is life.
Here are some of my accomplishments this summer.  (I like to put them all in one place so I can feel like I was productive :)

• Painted/redecorated two bathroomspainted the guest bathroom
• Got my whole coupon system in place (and saved, on average, 45% on my groceries this summer!)
• Went to the mountain house 3 times
• Went to Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill
• Went to Hilton Head Island
• Went to a few movies in the theater (it sure has been a while since I've done this!)
• Read several books, which, if you didn't know, is a great accomplishment for me!  I read:
• Heaven is for Real
• Water for Elephants
• Little Earthquakes
• The Choice
• The Help (in progress!)
• Had a professional wedding album made (6 years later... better late than never?)

One of my goals with Sydney was to do a lot of "school" type work with her, so that she was continuing to learn when she wasn't at school.  I had printed off all of these worksheets that involved things like tracing numbers and letters (something she is a little too young for), circling the bigger item/smaller item, finding certain shapes, counting, etc.  While my goal of having a set time daily of doing school work didn't pan out, she did do these worksheets sporadically.  However, I found that what was more successful was to just talk to Sydney and teach her things that way... ask her questions, show her things, repeat things over and over.  I'm proud to say that these are some of her accomplishments this summer:

• almost staying in the lines when coloring.
• stating her birthday.
• counting (she has made it up to 70!  However, a lot of times she mixes up thirty/forty/fifty etc. and does them out of order.)
• knowing her full name, my and Stephen's full names, her address, and the city and state she lives in.
• turning on her CD player and pressing play. (this is random, but I was amazed- it's hard to do, even for me!)
• playing on my iphone and knowing how to get to the camera to take pictures of herself!
• knowing which way is left and right.
• having manners... this girl is the queen!  She corrects everybody when they don't say "yes, ma'am" or "no, sir".  She says "please" and "thank you" and "May I...". 
• Knows her letters and letter sounds.
• Can sound out how to spell words... for example, I would say "pig" and break down each letter sound, and she would tell me what letters spell the word!
• Can write some letters- H, S, O, U, and C.

I'm sure there are a hundred other things she learned... this girl is one smart cookie.  I didn't really think about what all she knows until I got the curriculum for her next class- she's starting early for the "3s" class (which will be kids who are going to be a grade above her, but with a September birthday, she's close enough and more than ready to move on)- and the "A Beka"curriculum for the year included learning their letters (which I assume means writing them, too) and counting to 30.  I'm thinking, this girl has already got this down! 

And sweet Taylor has accomplished so much this summer- when she left daycare last May, she wasn't sitting up, holding her bottle, moving herself places on the floor, feeding herself, etc.  Her teachers couldn't believe how much she's grown and learned over the summer! 

So, I rate this summer very successful.  I wish it would have lasted longer, but the kids come back on Monday so reality is certainly back!

Resemblance?

I'm not kidding you when I say this... I have had around 15 people (not just people... perfect strangers!) tell me that Taylor looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid doll!  It's getting to be quite humorous.  It all probably started about 3 months ago.  Some people have commented on Facebook to various pictures of Taylor saying she looks like one... others have been totally random in public- at restaurants, in stores, etc. 

So, I thought I would compare...  What do you think?



Wow, I think I actually see it!