My attempt at "grocery gaming"

I have always been intrigued by those women who go to the grocery store and purchase $150 worth of stuff for $15...you know--the 'grocery gamers' who cut lots of coupons and then scan the ads from various stores and match their coupons to the ads to get items for next-to-nothing or free. I saw on the news this afternoon a story by someone claiming to have done that at Target. She posted her recommendations and I thought I'd try it out since I had to make a trip to Target anyway. I printed and clipped the online coupons and was on my way. Well...I was very disappointed. Several of the items were not in stock and several more were not listed at the prices mentioned in her blog. I wound up getting only 2 good deals--not enough to load the kids up and make a separate trip to Target. The deals I got were: large Johnson's Baby Shampoo regularly $3.99 for $1.00 and Dove Ultimate deodorant regularly $3.50 for $.29 (I purchased 2 of these). On the plus side, the cashier let me use the Dove coupons twice when I was only supposed to be allowed 1 per transaction. So, I really could have bought like 5 deodorants for 29 cents each. But that's alot of deodorant! So my conclusion is that until I don't have to haul kids around the little bit of money I might save 'grocery gaming' is not worth the hassle of going from store to store for possible bargins.

Carter's finger

We have 2 boring weeks of no activities scheduled before MDO starts on Sept. 10th. I convinced Heath to take 2 vacation days, 1 each week, to do something special with the family. Carter has been asking to go back to Incredible Pizza (a kids' game place) for some time now, so we decided to go today. One of the attractions is kids' bowling and we played several games. As I was turned around, Carter came sliding on the floor next to me screaming and doubled over in pain. He had tried to retreive some stuck bowling balls and his finger had been smashed between them. I was holding him and comforting him when next thing I see is blood everywhere. Turns out his finger was split open! Heath took him to the bathroom to wash it off and we left to go to the Urgent Care center. When it was all done, Carter got 3 stitches and has a broken finger. Poor baby! He says he doesn't want to bowl again. Since one of us had to take Hayden home, we asked Carter who he wanted to stay with him and he said Daddy. That made this Mommy a little sad, but like my mom said, he's growing up and needed Daddy to show him how to be brave.

Little Gym "Show Week"

This week was "show week" at Little Gym. The parents got to come see what skills the kids had learned and participate in their classes. Carter was so proud (and a little nervous) to show us his flips on the high bar and he opted not to do the forward roll on the balance beam that I've seen him do before. Both kids thought getting their medals was really cool and they've been wearing them around the house all week. I'm going to miss Little Gym~we decided to take a break and Carter will do swimming lessons this fall (indoors).

Hayden with Ms. Natalie

Hayden getting his medal


Carter got the gold!

Hayden's napmat & Little Gym

I picked up Hayden's napmat for school today and just love it! I'm counting on this one to last all 4 years of preschool.


Here are some pictures of Hayden at Little Gym. Heath got to do a class with him which was fun.

Carter says...

Carter's been saying some really interesting things lately. Here are a few:

• Monday morning randomly "Mommy, what's a tummy tuck?"
• Today: "We need a big flat-screened TV." (Heath loved this one!)
• "Daddy's the king of the castle; Mommy's the princess; and Hayden and I are knights."

Here's a couple of pictures of Hayden wearing Carter's backpack. He's going to be ready to join his brother at preschool this fall!

Out and About

The last 2 weeks we have been busy! We got together with our good friends, the Browns, two weekends in a row~once at their house to swim in their pool and once at our house following a birthday party. The Browns introduced us to their Wii and now we are hooked! Heath wants one for his birthday in Sept. Carter's really good at Wii bowling. We have been keeping up with Little Gym twice a week and summer MDO once a week. Tomorrow is the last day for MDO and the kids are supposed to bring a laundry basket decorated like a car for their Drive-in Movie. Heath and I got into this project--I guess this is a precursor to the kids' science fair projects in a few years! We made Carter a racecar with a license plate that says HoTRiDE. I have also been looking into getting Carter into an evaluation class so he can sign up for swimming lessons this fall at AquaKids. 2 weekends ago I attended a MOPS Steering retreat and enjoyed getting to know some of my MOPS moms better. This year I'm doing Outreach and helping with Hospitality. It's going to be a good year for our MOPS group! We made a trip to the Scottish Rite Hospital for Children this Tues. for Carter's appt. to look at his pinkie finger that won't straighten out. They made him a splint that he'll wear at night and told us some exercises to do with his finger each day to help it stretch out. The condition is called camptodactyly. Fortunately it won't affect him in his daily life so there is no reason to do surgery or anything. We were completely impressed with the Scottish Rite hospital--what an amazing place for children's health care! The boys start MDO Sept. 10th so for the next month or so we will be busy with Little Gym camps and getting together with friends. Trying to keep busy for the rest of the summer. Thank goodness the weather has cooled down a bit recently.


Carter's "hotride"


Hayden wearing his goggles just like "Bubba".




Hayden loves putting this case on his head like a hat.

Carter & Cassidy playing cowboy and cowgirl.

We're back!

We did a lot of traveling this week and it seems like we've been gone from home for a long time. On July 5th we attended the funeral of Heath's beloved Grandmother. She was such a sweet and wonderful lady who will be greatly missed by our family. After traveling home afterward, we were here 3 days before packing up again and going back to Winters and then to Concan, TX, to the Frio River. This is an annual trip for Heath's family. Unfortunately the last 2 years there has not been enough water in the river to float down, but the kids enjoy playing in the river nonetheless. Here are a few pictures from our trip. We are now getting back into the swing of things as the second half of summer is upon us.

Hayden licking river rocks

Hayden smiling


Carter with his water gun