What does a snake say?

Jordan learned this new trick today. He doesn't do it everytime I ask what a snake says, but he does pretty good. We'll just have to wait and see if he still remembers how to do it tomorrow.

Hair Cuts Again

Jackson's and Doug's hair was getting long so it was time for me to cut it again... Here's the before and after shots.

I just thought this was a cute picture. It's not really a before or after, although it was before the hair cut so technically it could be called a before shot. But it's not the official one.

Jackson's before. Notice the scared look. He really does fine once I start cutting. It just kind of scares him when he thinks about me doing it.

Doug's before... He's trying to make a scared look too.

Thumbs up to cool hair and glasses. (he can finally do thumbs up. He used to use his pointer fingers to do it.)

Doug's after with Jordan. Jordan's hair isn't quite long enough to need to get it cut yet...

Giggles

Being like Daddy

Doug gave us all father's/husband blessing a few weeks ago to start off the new year. I didn't really think it had too much of an effect of Jack and that he maybe didn't even remember it since it was kind of awhile ago. But today after church Jackson came over to Jordan and put his hands on his head and said Jordan Clay Dance. We didn't realize what he was doing until he came to me and said Stephanie Dance while trying to reach my head. It was so funny. I guess Doug's blessing did have an impression on him.

Today after nursery Jackson was really excited to see me when I picked him up. He ran to me waving his picture he colored and showed it to me immediately. He showed me his name and I asked him if he wrote it and he said 'Sister.... (pause) Sister Maddie's mommy helped me." It was cute. He didn't know her name but he knew it was Sister something. He cracks us up.

Sorry there haven't been pictures of my adorable children lately. I can't find my camera battery charger and it's almost out of battery so I can't upload any pictures. But once I find it... if ever... I will post pictures so you can all know what they look like these days. :)

More Cute things Jack says

Sorry if you get bored reading about all the cute things my kids say... But I want to remember these things when I'm old and have no more little kids to say such and do such cute things...

This morning Jack climbed into is chair for breakfast. He has a plastic place mat (or map as he says it :)) that is two sided. He always likes to have a certain side up and so this morning he noticed it wasn't the he likes it. He took off his plate and cup and turned his mat the other way while saying that I put his mat the wrong way and that I need to listen to him.

I also remember how he often uses the phrase 'next time'. Example:
Jack tells daddy, 'I went to lunch with grandma today.'
Doug says "did you tell grandma thank you?"
Jack "Next time I will. Next time I see her.
They have conversations similar to this pretty often.

Couponing

My sister in law asked if I'd do a blog on how I coupon. Since I love couponing and I also love trying to explain how great couponing really is I will do it. Hopefully I can explain in it a way that doesn't make it sound too complicated or time consuming. It does take time though. I'll try using bullet points to help this to not be too confusing. I've never really been the best at explaining things in easy to understand ways. But I'll do my best...

• First getting coupons. I signed up for the Sunday paper through couponmom.com which gave me a pretty good discount. I also get the coupons from my mom's Sunday coupon inserts unless she gives them away to someone else first... I also try to collect coupons from the coupon dispensers that are in the grocery stores. Coupons can also printed from various websites. coupons.com, my points.com, bettycrocker.com are a few of them. There are also three websites that allow you to download coupons onto store club cards. They don't work for all stores. You'd have to check our the websites to find out if they have stores that will work in your area. The websites are: cellfire.com (this one asks for cell phone number and says it will text you, but you can use you home phone number if you're like me and don't want to give out you cell phone or don't have unlimited texting. I don't think they text you unless you ask them to.) pgesaver.com, and shortcuts.com. You can also get coupons by signing up for different websites and for free samples. I've gotten a lot of gerber and pampers and huggies coupons this way.
• Once you start getting coupons then you can look at all the sale fliers for the grocery stores around you and figure out what sale items you can match a coupon with and you can get a really great deal. It's good to know how much you usually pay for things so that you know when you're getting a good deal. When items are really cheap it's good to stock up. That way you're less likely to run out of an item before you need it. Manufactured coupons can be combined with a store coupon in most places (maybe all... I've never had a place not do it). Some stores don't except internet coupons, but I think most do. Rite Aid usually doesn't. Some stores double coupons. This means that if a coupon is worth $1.00 after being doubled it will be worth $2.00. In my area coupon doubling doesn't happen very often. Only once actually. But some stores do it all the time I think. California seems to be popular for this. There's a blog that has links to other blogs that will match coupons and sales for different stores. I used this a lot when I was starting to help me find the best deals. Now I still usually read some of the blogs, but not as closely as I did before. The site is http://www.becentsable.net/2008/08/becentsables-original-grocery-gathering.html
• Before couponing I never really shopped at drug stores. But I have since learned they have some really good deals on things. I've gotten free shampoo and foil and after a rebate wipes. Drug stores usually have rebates that they offer for certain things (at least Rite Aid and Walgreens do. I don't know about the rest.) These can help get really good deals. For example, I bought two packages of huggies diapers and 2 things of baby soap and will get $14.00 back in rebates and that will bring the cost for them to less than $5.00. You can get the rebate booklets in the stores. Walgreens also has coupons in their rebate booklet.
• Organization is very important. I use a picture album to keep my coupons in. That I can sort them by categories and see them easily. I also have envelopes for each of the stores I go to and I put the coupons I plan to use for my shopping into in the envelopes. That makes sure the coupons for different stores don't get lost. I also make a list for everything I'm buying.
  
• A question I often get about couponing is about name brand products. People say they don't buy those because they're more expensive but that's what the coupons are for. It's true that the coupons are for name brand stuff. But name brand stuff is also the stuff that goes on sale a lot. I'm not very brand picky. I like my waffles to be eggo, but other than that I generally don't care too much. I buy my waffles at Sam's Club since they will always be cheaper there. We used to buy Malt O meal cereal because it was cheaper than the box kind. But now that I coupon I don't really pay more than $1.50 for a box and that's way cheaper than the malt o meal. So really couponing is better for those that aren't brand picky because you can get whatever is the cheapest and still be happy.

That's all I can think of for now.... If you have any questions let me know. I'm always happy to discuss couponing... Since couponing I think we have more food in our house then we did before and I spend less per month on groceries than I did before. So if you try it out. Good luck and have fun!

The Extreme

We've been doing a lot lately to try to save money. It's one of my most recent hobbies. I love shopping the grocery store sales even if it means going to 3 or 4 different stores a week. I love couponing and trying to get things for really really good prices and even sometimes for free. I try to convince anyone I talk to about grocery shopping or saving money that couponing is a great thing and worth the time. At least to me it is. I just really enjoy it. We're being better about saving up for big things, like freezers, instead of just saying we have money in savings so let's buy it. We cancelled out dish network tv and now have an antenna so we can get free tv. We rarely eat out. and pretty much never with us and the kids. We try to find cheap and free things to do for entertainment like getting free movies from the Internet or Redbox. But last week I did something I didn't think I would do. I lowered our heat temperature. Some of you may be very suprised by this. I really enjoy being in a warm house. I like to be able to wear t-shirts in the winter. But one day I realized that maybe we really could save money by turning it down. Maybe I wouldn't freeze if I just did one little degree. and you know what? I've done just fine. In fact right now I don't even have a sweatshirt on and it's not too cold. Maybe I should even go lower. I even lowered it 3 degrees for the time when the kids go to bed and we go to bed. And I lowered it 2 2 or 3 degrees during sleeping time. So I guess what they say is true one degree isn't that big of a deal. Especially when you're going from 70 to 69 :)