10 Things I love about my boy

1. I love the way he sits quietly looking at his books while pointing and talking to the pictures.
2. I love the way he runs to the door when he hears someone coming up the steps to see who is on the other side of it.
3. I love the way he gets super excited when his daddy gets home and runs to him with open arms.
4. I love the way he smiles when we go get him after nap time or in the mornings.
5. I love the way he laughs when he gets tickled.
6. I love the way he loves my friends.
7. I love the way he snuggles up to me after I discipline him, as his way of saying please forgive me and I'm sorry I disobeyed.
8. I love his big blue eyes.
9. I love the way he will lay in his crib during his quiet time and talk and laugh to himself.
10. I love the way he loves his daddy.

Harris Teeter Trip

Harris Teeter

Harris Teeter has so many good sales this week! I didn't get all of the sales they had, just because I didn't need to spend the money, but I was really impressed with the amount of good deals!

Total before savings $109.56
Total spent $32.93
Total saved $76.63

Here's what I got:
-3 (2lb.) bags EZ peel raw shrimp
-6 strips Fleischmann's yeast
-1 tube Colgate Total toothpaste
-2 pks. Al Fresco chicken sausage
-2 boxes X-14 toilet bowl cleaner (free)
-2 bags New York Style bagel crisps
-3 bottles Scope Outlast mouthwash (one had a free travel size Crest toothpaste on it!)

I spent a little more this trip than I normally do, but over half of my total was just on the shrimp. It came out to about $3 a pound, which is a good price for frozen raw shrimp, so I splurged a little. We make it last a long time as well, by getting about three meals out of one bag. We still have a bag from the last time HT ran this deal which, I think, was back in July or August.

My little Santa and a surprise!

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I asked Cary about putting up our Christmas tree. I wanted to do it on that Saturday when he was off, but we just didn't get to it. On Sunday I asked again and he said we would get to it during the week when he had some time to get all of our decorations out of the storage room. I was a little disappointed, just because I am really excited about Christmas this year, since Connor will have more of an idea of what is happening and I just wanted to get the tree up!
On Monday night my friend Bobbi-sue wanted to go to HT to get some of the deals for that week and she asked me to go with her for some company. Without my knowledge, while we were gone, Cary decided to get out the Christmas decorations and put the tree up for me!! It was such a surprise!!! While he was putting it up, Connor found the Santa hat and loved wearing it!

Meal Plan for week of 11/29-12/5

I have really been slacking on my meal planning lately.

Monday- Thanksgiving leftovers Yum!
Tuesday- Turkey pot pie
Wednesday- Homemade pizza
Thursday- leftovers
Friday-Turkey noodle soup
Saturday-Turkey enchiladas
Sunday-Wepod dinner-Tacos

Kroger, Target, and Food Lion Trips

Kroger Trip

Kroger is having another Mega Event. I love these almost as much as I do Super Doubles at HT, but not quite!

Total before savings $47.23
Total spent $9.93
Total saved $37.30

Here's what I got:
-6 boxes Kleenex tissue
-6 cans Carnation evaporated milk
-2 boxes Cheerios
-1 box Kashi crackers
-1 Degree deoderant
-1 (4ct.) pk. Colgate Wisp
-2 bags Pillsbury Grands biscuits
-2 bags Steamfresh frozen veggies


Target Trip

Total before savings $17.80
Total spent $1.04 (this was just taxes)
Total saved $16.76

Here's what I got:
-4 bottles Nivea Men's body wash (free)



Food Lion

I don't normally go to Food Lion or even check their sale ad. Their prices tend to be higher and they do not double coupons at all, but my friend's husband works there and she let me in on this deal!! We eat a lot of cheese so any time I can stock up on it and freeze it, I do!! Especially now that I have my chest freezer!!

Total before savings $30.17
Total spent $7.00
Total saved $23.17

Here's what I got:
-10 bags Kraft Touch of Philly shredded cheese (they were $0.66 a bag!!)

Kroger and Target trips

So, I ventured out today and endured the pre-holiday traffic and went out for a few last minute things. I am usually pretty good about getting all of my holiday meal groceries about a week in advance so that I don't have to venture out a day or two before, but Thanksgiving just snuck up on me this year!

Kroger Trip

Total before savings $37.22
Total spent $7.39
Total saved $29.83

Here's what I got:
-2 boxes Multigrain Cheerios
-2 boxes Cinnamon Toast Crunch
-4 boxes Pillsbury pie crusts
-4 pkgs. Pillsbury ready-bake cookies


Target Trip

Total before savings $28.19
Total spent $6.83
Total saved $21.36

Here's what I got:
-8 jars Heinz homestyle gravy
-1 box Quaker Life bars
-2 pks. Philly cream cheese
-2 bags Kraft shredded cheese
-2 (5lb.) bags of potatoes (they were on sale for $1.99 each, but they rang up for $0.99 each!!)

Saving up pays off

We recently made a new purchase for our household. As you know, I love couponing and stocking up on things when I can get them for rock bottom prices. They only things I have not been able to stock up on are frozen items. We use a lot of frozen veggies and fruit and when we find meat for a really good price we like to stock up on it, which has been hard to do until now!

About five months ago, I asked Cary about us getting a chest freezer so that I could stock up on frozen veggies, fruit, and meats when the prices were good. I knew we could not afford it at the time, but I wanted to see how he felt about the idea. He was game for it, but not until we had the money for it. I decided to ask some friends and my mom about them and do some research for myself on prices and brands.

At the beginning of October, I asked Cary again if he thought we could get one and he told me that if I saved up the money for it, we could. So save I did!! In addition to my paychecks at Starbucks, I get tips every week. Starting the last week of September until a week ago, I saved. We usually save my tip money for going out to eat and for when we travel so we have money for food and gas and such. Since I was saving for the freezer, we didn't go out to eat, which we only go out like once a month anyway so it was easy to give up.

Once I saved all of my money, we went to Lowe's and Home Depot to see what they had. I looked at their websites, but sometimes what is online is not always what they have in the store. We picked one out at Home Depot and we remembered we had a gift card Cary's dad gave us, so that went towards the warranty part of the price. We purchased it and this past Tuesday, it was delivered! I was so excited to get it and we have already filled it!! Kroger is having a great sale on their frozen veggies this week and we bought our turkey for Thanksgiving next week.

I am so happy with it and it is a great investment for years to come as our family grows.











I decided to get this dry erase board to keep track of what we have in each freezer. That way, when we start to get low on something, I can watch for it go on sale again and stock back up. Plus, I can keep track of how long items have been in there so we can use them within the right time period.