One fun day!

We had a lot of fun today!! Dave has been doing nothing but working for the past 10 days, so we were all in need of a little fun! And Jake had us rolling the whole day!

So for breakfast we decided to head on over to Ihop! They had FREE spooky face pancakes for the kiddos and cheap all you can eat pancakes for us! Sounds like out kinda place!




The kiddos were both shocked and excited to see CANDY on their pancake plate! We had a really fun time.
Jake was being a big boy and he was trying to cut his pancakes with a knife and fork. He said: This is how I use my knife to "carve" my waffles! LOL he cracks me up!


And since we were right across the street from the mall, mommy convinced the boys we needed to run into Bath and Body works. I had a few great coupons and we were out of hand soap.




They have their hand soaps on sale 6 for $20 bucks which is a pretty good deal! I also had a $10 off $30 purchase coupon from a survey I took a while back. So I got Dave's body wash for free!

I also had a coupon for a FREE lip gloss with any purchase! So I had Dave pay for the little lotion (they limit 1 coupon per customer) and the lip gloss was FREE! Cool!

And guess what they gave me? More coupons!

So if any of yall need some coupons let me know!

And since were at the mall we decided to take the boys to the toy store so they could spend their Halloween money from Grandma and Grandpa Trowbridge. We were in the stinkin toy store for 35 minutes! The boys were LOVING it! Dave too. LOL I don't know if you have ever seen a grown man play with toys more than he does. He was chasing Steven around the store with a giant T-rex! Steven was trying to run as fast as his chunky legs would go, but the T-rex always got him!

Steven got a barrel of monkey!

And Jakers got a fishing game with his "number 5 dollar bills"



Then we decided to try this Chinese restaurant here in Harlingen (yes, we went out twice in one day. I wanted to be lazy for a day) and it was REALLY good! Even Jake who doesn't EVER try new foods enjoyed the eggrolls and wan tons! While he was eating his wan ton he said: So this is where "chicken" comes from, from won tons! LOL there wasn't even chicken in it! It was pork! What a funny kid!


Well that's all I got for now! Hope you had a good day too!

Deals This Week

It's been a pretty good week for shopping! Let's start with online deals shall we?


Ok, first Amazon



Pampers Diapers
Item(s) Subtotal: $37.98
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Promotion Applied: -$11.39
Promotion Applied: -$7.60
-----
Total Before Tax: $18.99
Sales Tax: $0.00
Gift Certificate/Card Amount: $5.07
-----
Total for This Shipment: $13.92!! This was basically twice as many for half the price kinda deal! Which was perfect timing because I was actually out of diapers!




Skippy Peanut Butter
Item(s) Subtotal: $12.87
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Promotion Applied: -$1.93
Promotion Applied: -$1.93
-----
Total Before Tax: $9.01
Sales Tax: $0.00
Gift Certificate/Card Amount: $5.00
-----
Total for This Shipment: $4.01!!
Which peanut butter down here goes for $4.84ea!! So this was an AWESOME deal!!


Then I received some sausage in the mail!!

When I signed up for this deal I thought they were going to mail me coupons for the product, not the "actual" product! But I'm sure it's ok to eat.


I also received my FREE cutting boards from One Kings Lane!!
When you first sign up with their site you receive a $15 credit!
Which can be used toward shipping! So this set of cutting boards was on sale for $7 I think it was, and then I used the rest of my credit toward shipping and got it for FREE! So cool!



I ordered this toy when Fisher Price was offering FREE shipping on any order. The Trio Airplane was on sale for $5 bucks! Jake LOVES the little race car he got in the mail so I think he will really like this!



There was a pretty great sale going on at Striderite.com last week! They Emailed Dave a 20% discount and they offer free shipping with every 2 pair of shoes you ordered! We pounce on Stride Rite deals because we know first hand how stinkin expensive they can be! Both our kids have had to wear their shoes due to their extra wide feet!
Both shoes were on sale for $29.00ea! Normally $40ea!! So I was excited already!
Then we received a 20% discount which reduced the shoes to $23.99ea
THEN I got free shipping because I ordered two pairs!
So I spent $47.98 (which I know seems high for the kind of shopping I do, but this was like paying for 1 pair!!)
Saved $39.97! Works for me!

Steven really likes his shoes!


And they totally go with his "gark" jammies LOL!


Ok, now for the store sales.

I went to Target twice this week. The first time I had both the boys with me and it was a HUGE nightmare! I really don't know when I will learn my lesson. They just don't do good shopping. It's not really their fault, they just don't like to do it.


This was supposed to be an awesome trip and I was going to get really cheap/free razors but I ended up paying for them! I think I spent $9 bucks over what I planned on. And I know you are thinking $9 bucks is not the end of the world, but 9 bucks is 9 bucks.
The dog food was free for my donation
The floss was free with the $1 off any reach floss coupon
The Coffeemate was 3/2 this week and I had 2 $1.50 coupon so FREE. We don't drink coffee, but these taste GREAT in hot cocoa!
The glade candles are buy 5 receive a $5 gift card. I had 2 B2G1 free coupon so this worked out to be a great deal!
The shick razors are buy 2 get a $5 gift card and I had B1G1 free coupons which would have resulted in free razors, but their registers will automatically reduce the price of the coupon because it includes the $5 gift card as a coupon! UGH!
I did a total of 3 transactions and paid $18.82 (it would have been $12.80 had the razor coupons worked out).
Saved $47.96
AND I received a $5 gift card on my last transaction!

Then I went back to Target last night with my buddy Deb

It went a little better.
I got more dog food for free
The razor set was free with the $5 coupons and the $5 gift card I still had
The kleenex hand towels were $1.82ea after coupons which is pretty good!
I can't find my receipt right now, but it was a good trip

We also went to CVS last night


The Contour is on sale this week for $15 with $5RR back. AND I had the $10 coupon from the Sunday paper
So I spent $5 and received $5 back! We don't need this, but it's something that can be donated.
Then the lipton onion mix was on sale 4/$5 which is a good deal! We LOVE to make the dip during the holidays!
Total $5
- $5RR
= $0.00!

Oh, and I wanted to mention to yall, We are coming into a major sales cycle with the holidays approaching, so there will be many more good deals to come! So if you'd like me to start letting ya know when I find great deals, just let me know! I already do this for my family members, so it would be no sweat to add a couple more Email addresses!


-Leah

Pet Pillows!! AAHHHHH!

So if you are a parent to a 4 year old or older, you have probably been getting non-stop requests for a stinkin "Pet Pillow". They are the "it" gift this season! Or so I'm told.
So since this gift is so HOT HOT HOT, I thought I would take a look online and see how much they are. They range from $20-40 bucks which wasn't my problem. My problem is that Jake wants to "Blue Dino Pillow" which was nowhere to be found!! I was freaking out! This is the first year Jake is actually requesting Santa to bring him specific toys and I can't find this stupid pillow anywhere!

Until, today.



Amazon has it on sale for $19.99 which is awesome! And thanks to my "Amazon Mom" membership, I received FREE 2 day shipping! WooHoo!

I had only 1 $5 gift card available. I could have gotten it for free had I waited a few weeks, but the way these babies are going it may not be available at that time. So I happily paid $14.99 for the #1 toy on Jake's Christmas list!

LOL and I'm sure I will have to get Steven one because I can just see the two boys fighting over the silly pillow! I think I will get Steven the cute "Puppy Pillow"!


I'm just gonna say it again, if your kiddo is asking for one of these pillows, I would buy it NOW! Like TODAY. After all, we wouldn't want "Santa" to be in the dog house, right?
Sigh, the stress of the Holidays is already upon us!!
-Leah

Operation Gratitude Halloween Candy Buy Back Program

I think this is such a cool and unique idea!! I know what we will be doing with all the kids leftover candy!!

Kitty Update

Ok, update on kitty. First, let me just say that I had about 3 hours of sleep between Steven and Kitty so this blog post may be kind of random...sorry.

Kitty is doing MUCH better! I thought she was a lot younger because her eyes weren't open yet but I read online that their eyes open at 9 days old! So her eyes were shut from all the gunk in them! Poor kitty! We cleaned her up and let her rest most of the afternoon. Then Dave picked up kitty milk and a bottle on his way home.

Kitty wouldn't drink from the bottle so Dave sat there and put his finger in the milk and let her lick it off his finger. She REALLY likes Dave.

I will say though it was really hard last night waking up at 1am to feed her. It's like we have a brand new baby again!


I know I called her a him yesterday, but I think he's a she. I think. It's hard to tell. Maybe we will just call it a lady guy for now LOL.


Here are some pictures from the kids playing with cat ca this morning.

Enjoy!!




















I tried to take pictures of just kitty, but two little boys wouldn't get more than a foot away from her...





Poor kitty, she was trying to run away from the boys and they thought she was just playing with them. We want to keep her, but she may not want to say with us LOL!

P.S. we decided to call her "Socks" since she has a little white on each of her paws!

Morning Walk

So this morning I was determined to go and run today. Not just my usual run for 10-15 minutes then walk for the rest of the time. I wanted to REALLY run. I got the kiddos all ready in the stroller with snacks. We started walking through our neighbourhood and just as I was turning the corner and about to run, I hear this little meow meow meow. So Jake and I started to look around only to discover a little kitty in the fields all by his lonesome! His eyes aren't even open yet. We ran back home to grab a blanket and by the time we got back he was trying to cross the street and almost got hit! So we brought the kitty back home with us (which it was VERY difficult to push a double stroller with one hand and control a crazy kitty with the other) and along the way Jake kept asking things like: Mom, can the kitty watch cartoons with me? Mom, can the kitty have a snack with us when we get home? Sigh, I didn't really think bringing this kitty home through all the way. My kiddos are already attached. They keep watching over him like a long lost brother or something.










Just look at him! You'd think it was Christmas or something. He keeps saying: cat ca! Cat ca mommy! He was screaming it so loud it was scaring the kitty.
So kitty is in the garage sleeping and Steven is currently trying to figure out how the unlock the garage door so he can see cat ca.

Not sure what I'm going to do with him. Probably wait for Dave to come home. Then he willl probably get just as attached as the boys are.

What have I done?! Cat ca is cute and all, but I'm more a dog person. I don't even know what I can feed him. Don't they drink whole milk or something?

Chunky-licious Mouse

Since we got little Steven's costume (which he is a sea otter by the way) I have been letting him wear it around the house so he will be used to wearing it come Halloween.

So, the other day while Steven was wearing his costume Jake decided to pipe up and say: I fink he just looks like a giant chunky-licious mouse.

Me: What?! No he doesn't. He is a "sea otter".

Jake: No, he is just a giant mouse mom!

Me: No Jake, he is a sea otter. Please stop saying mouse.

Then I hear Jake muttering under his breath, that is one giant mouse brother.




This wouldn't really be a problem except for the fact that I HATE mice! HATE them. Just writing the word "mice" right now is making me sick. I can't even watch that stupid Ratatuille show without wanting to throw up. UGH!

So now when I see Stevens costume all I can think about is that maybe someone else would think he is dressed up as a mouse.........I may need to buy him a new costume.


What do you think? Does he honestly look like a mouse?

One AWESOME day!!

This week has been AWESOME for shopping!! I finally got my Ebay coupons so I ran all over the place today trying to snatch uo some sweet deals!!!


Ok, first Target




Their Celestial tea was on sale for $1.97ea and there was a $1.00 off coupon a few weeks back. So $0.97 for a box of tea is a great deal!!
The sweet potato fries were $0.99 after my coupons
The dog food was free with the $2.00 purina coupon (I ordered 20 more from Ebay for my donation!)
The oatmeal was on sale for $2.50 and I had a $2.00 coupon from Facebook

The total after coupons was $27.44
Used $10 target gift card and $10 rebate check from Aveeno
= $7.44 OFP!!
Saved $50.16!!


Then to Walgreens



This week the Nivea Mens body wash is on sale for $2.50ea and in Sundays paper there was an AWESOME $3.00 coupon! So I ordered 20 coupons from Ebay.

The Ricola coughdrops are on sale for $1ea and in this weeks paper there is a $1/2 coupon AND in the Walgreens October book there is a $0.50/1 coupons so FREE after coupons!
Spent $0.00
Saved $63.85!! WooHoo!

Then I went to CVS because there was an unadvertised deal for the Neturogena hair conditioner treatment @ $7.49 with $7.49 RR back.



So I got the Hair conditioner

The CVS hand sanitizer was free with a coupon Emailed to me
The gum is B1G1 free this week and I used 2 $1.00 coupons making them both free
Spent $1.76
Saved $11.43
The hair conditioner didn't print any RR back, but that's ok.


Then I ran to Walmart

The reason I saved some of the Nivea coupons for Walmart is because they would let me keep the $0.50 overage which I could use towards other items.

So all the Nivea body wash was free with a $0.50 overage on each one which I used towards the 9 scotch tapes!
The bag of potatos were on sale for $0.90!
The sodas were on rollback for $1.00ea and I had a B1G1 free coupon!
Spent a little over $3 bucks
Saved $70.64! (I calculated the nivea at the walmart price which was $4.97ea)

THEN, when I got home there was a letter delivered for me from the UPS man. I thought that was weird, so I opened it and guess what was inside?!

A check for $250.00 from the Kelloggs Back to School Sweeps!!!! WOOOOOHOOO! Are you kidding me? I NEVER win anything!!! I am SO excited!!!

What a AWESOME day!!!

Retail Therapy

Yesterday was super busy for us. I had an appointment first thing in the morning that didn't work out since the nurse scheduled me to be in the Mcallen office when I was at the Harlingen office. So since I now had all that extra time on my hands with no kiddos or husband, I decided to do a few errands! And we all know what that means!!


I can do so much when I don't have my kids with me! It's unreal.



I went to CVS and snatched some free gum and a razor





Then I went to Target to grab the last 4 of those Strawberry Shortcake toys for free. And along the way I found this SUPER CUTE purple dress! I know it looks kind of plain, but it's VERY cute. On me. Which is NOT something I say a lot.





Then I went to Hobby Lobby to grab some more pumpkins and leaf garland for my cupboard tops
What do ya think? I have to go get one more garland because it wasn't long enough to go all the way around. But I like it!

(pay no mind to the dirty counters or pans with egg in them!)




Then I went to HEB and got the kids vits and LOTS of candycorn so I could do this

I LOVE filling vases with candy! I think it's so cute!







Then there was Walmart for a few good deals.




The cottonell wipes were free
Toothbrushes were $2.97ea
The dish soap was free
That HUGE bad of crunch bars I got for $2 for the trick or treaters
The glade candles are on rollback for $2.33 and I have a B2G1 Free coupon
The muffin mixes are on rollback for $1.47ea and I had a $0.50 coupon so a buck each isn't bad!


And I had plans for the mall, but Dave called and said Steven fell off the couch and was crying for me. So you know I just had to race home and comfort my little guy. And boy does he have a goose egg! Looks like pictures will be postponed for another week!! I'm starting to think there is some conspiracy going on.........


So with me home comforting Steven, Dave decided he and Jakers needed to go out and spend some time together! Jake didn't really want to leave at first, but then when toys and ice cream were mentioned he ran to go put on his shoes.
A couple hours later Jake came back with some goodies!


Jake LOVES puzzles

Daddy got him a new mitt and ball since his old one was made of plastic and broken
(again, pay you no mind to the pile of clean clothes behind Jake)

Some poprocks and judging by the chocolate on his face, I'm guessing they also went out for ice cream


THEN we had to go to the recycling center because our trash was starting to overflow.
We love to recycle. It make us feel better. Like we are doing our part in trying to keep our planet clean.

And all those boxes from online shopping are recycled too.




Then after the recycling center Dave ran into the liquor store! Why the heck did we go there? Because we are making homemade vanilla!

See...



Did you know all it takes to make homemade vanilla is some vodka and lots of vanilla beans?! We are making it now so we can give it away to our buddies come Chistmas time!

Well that's all I got for now!

-Leah