COUPON CRAZY

I have always been a woman after a deal. I love finding ways to save money. I utilize resources to the maximum and stretch them as far as they can go. I use the heels of the bread, recycle ziploc bags, buy clothes at consignment stores and squeeze every last ounce from the ketchup bottle. Needless to say I have always used coupons. I enjoy seeing the money saved at the bottom of the grocery receipt.

Recently, however, I have taken this to a whole new level and found a few blogs to help me out. It is called coupon match-ups and turns out to be a steal of a deal! The blogs show you weekly specials at various stores (grocery and drugstores) and then even tell you what coupons go with the specials. You can end up spending pennies...if even that.....for items that typically cost dollars. Now this takes some time because you have to save up coupons, organize them and make lists of each store on a weekly basis, but it is worth it! The idea is to stock up on items when they are on special and coupon matched. Then you can spend the money you save to buy your weekly necessities. This means when you run out of basic items, you will usually have them right on hand in your own pantry- no need to run out. I love this concept! The other day at CVS I bought 2 tubes of Revlon lipstick worth $15 and spent $0! Today at HT I spent $20.84 and saved $71! So as you see, I am officialy COUPON CRAZY!

SPRING BREAK FALL OUT

The return to school after Spring Break is very similar to the first week of school or the week back after Christmas Break. The kids are exhausted, grumpy and just plain emotional. For this reason, we make these weeks a priority to get the kids to bed at a decent time and try to keep them on track. Tonight was no different. We opted to miss Awana at church so the kids could get to bed at 7:30, not 9:30. We had a plan in place and were not going to back down. Well it ended up that Sparkler took a short nap around 5:30 and woke up around 6pm, just as we were sitting down to dinner. The kids ate and played a bit until MacGyver announced it was bedtime. At that time , he also told the kids to give goodnight hugs. I reminded him that Sparkler was probably not tired and could stay downstairs with me while he took the boys up to bed. Well Botttle Rocket had a huge breakdown asking, "How can Sparkler get to stay up 1 hour past us....I am 7 and she is 1....this is not fair.......how does she get to stay up late???!!!". Dejectedly, the kids huddled up to give goodnight hugs. Sparkler, in her cool and collected state, simply hugged each brother and then waved her hand and bidded a "bye-bye" cheerfully to each of them (note that her bye bye is always repeated several times!). She even swiveled a bit while waving and raised her voice an octive as if to say, "Check me out!" to all 3 of them! It was truly quite funny and even Bottle Rocket began to laugh a bit. These boys have NO IDEA what is coming. In all honesty, I think MacGyver and I have no idea either! We better fasten our seatbelts!!

FINALLY FRIDAY!!

Wahoo! We are at another Friday and ready for the weekend! It has been Spring Break around here so we have been super busy and not taken a lot of pictures. We are off to baseball practice and yard work this weekend. We also have the pleasure of meeting my future brother-in-law's parents as they are in town for the weekend. My b-i-l said he sent them a picture last month so they could practice a run down of the kid's names! Hope we don't overwhelm them with all the energy we bring to a gathering! I hope they are ready to play!

HANDS ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE!

"DIGGING DIRT"

Our kids LOVE the dirt! I mean they really LOVE the dirt! I could sit Sparkler and Fire Cracker in a heap of dirt and they would be pleasantly entertained for the afternoon (click here for more evidence!). Bottle Rocket and Smoke Bomb find digging in the garden irresistible. I owe this clever activity idea to their Mimi and Jack. She even buries things in their garden for treasure hunts- what fun! All of them find it amusing to fill up dunp trucks with dirt and mulch from the yard. Oh and if there is any water nearby, look out because mud pies will go flying! They enjoy riding their trikes and bikes through the puddles of rain in the road, streaking mud and dirt up their seats and backs. Sparkler simply prefers to sit in the mud and/or water. Just today, she made it all the way to 5pm without a wardrobe change. Then she decided to sit in the rain puddles outside. Not just sit in them. She had a ball splashing the water with her hands and wiggling around! No worries to me as long as she is wearing some pink and has a bow in her hair! Hmmm.......Makes me wonder if this "dirt digging" is a genetic trait inheritance? I do know one thing, our new washing machine gets stains out great!

STUDENTS AREN'T THE ONLY THING ON SPRING BREAK!

This is Spring Break week for our school district. The kids are excited to have some down time, catch up on things we have wanted to do and spend time with family. We have been teasing Bottle Rocket this week as his brain has officially gone on Spring Break too! Don't worry we are not being mean to him. Afterall, he is definitely due a mental break! Bottle Rocket loves school and reading, he never gives us a fit over his homework and is eager to learn and push his capabilities in class. So it is cute to see him shutting the brain down for a few days! Here is an example.... The other night in the cul-de-sac, our neighbor spotted Bottle Rocket as he finished up riding his bike. Bottle Rocket got off the bike, put the kickstand down and then pushed the bike down in the opposite direction! Hehe......I've let Bottle Rocket know that he is not alone! I have days of mental rest quite often.......the problem is mine aren't scheduled and sometimes seem permanent!

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY FIRE CRACKER!!

UPDATE:
MacGyver looked at me last night after reading this post and asked if Fire Cracker really had turned 4! He has us all thrown for a loop!!

It is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that Fire Cracker turns 3 today! This is partly due to the fact that he has tried tenaciously to convince us that he turns 4! When asked how old he is, he replies with a serious "FOUR"! When we tell him that he is actually 3, he protests that he has already been 3 and now he is 4! Ahhh, life as the youngest of 3 brothers.....always wanting to keep up with the others! I am about 99.9% sure that he really thinks he is 4 now!

What a little gentleman he is! At night I pray thanks to God for the joy Fire Cracker brings our family and those around him. He is truly a delight to be around and we are so proud of him! He loves with all his heart and enjoys life to the fullest! Happy Birthday Fire Cracker!!

TOP 10 THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE ON THE WAY OUT OF THE HOUSE

Our neighbor found a lovely snake in her driveway the other week - a copperhead to top it off! Okay, it was a baby but still about a foot and a half long! All the moms were trying to scoop it into a bucket so the kids didn't get hurt. Hindsight is 20/20, right!? It was probably not so smart to lasso a snake in front of our children and toddlers....especially the little boys who wanted to hold and pet the "little" snake! Trust me I am fully prepared now for all the lovely creatures they will be bringing me in leiu of the snake incident. The funniest part of the entire thing was Smoke Bomb calling his Mimi to let her know he found a "shopperhead"!

HE IS NOT HERE...

Matthew 28:1-10 (NIV)

After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."

So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."

FINALLY FRIDAY!!

Here we are at another weekend! This week has been filled with easter egg hunts and ants in our pants since Spring Break is just around the corner. We will wrap it up with fun family and church Easter celebrations! Have a great weekend!