The Motyl'sA look inside…

Welp, it’s happened. I’ve started employing Melissa’s saving/couponing into my grocery store mystery shops, with her help of course. I can’t tell you which stores, in fact, all I can tell you is how much we saved and the websites that we use to do so. Friday night’s grocery trip went from $63 all the way down to $29 and when I get reimbursed for the shop it will be $14 for $63 worth of groceries. (I went with Melissa on this one) Today I went alone to another store total was $52, after coupons it went to $18 and after getting reimbursed for mystery shop it will be $8. I had to drive a significant distance for this one so I also signed up for a gas station mystery shop and will end up being reimbursed for $7 in gas.

Is it worth it? Heck yes it is… we’ve trimmed down our grocery budget along with every other budget in the house for the last 18 months. There are a lot of scams out there when it comes to earning and saving money but we have waded our way through the junk and found two ways to help our family.

Thanks to Melissa for putting so much effort into couponing… and thanks to Michelle for turning us both onto mystery shopping.

Well, it’s been quite a few years since Melissa and I have experienced Fall like it happens up north. In SC, you wake up one day and all the leaves are gone. Not much turning or anything else. We’re both excited to give the kids the experiences we enjoyed as kids with our family. One of those things was pumpkin patches and hayrides. We found one… and all of us enjoyed it.

Friendster.  Blogging.  MySpace.  Facebook.  Twitter.

All of these tools to connect us to other people, share our thoughts, ideas, goals…AND marketing.  Some of the people I follow on twitter are SAHMs that earn an income with their blogs.  I don’t know exactly how they do it…but they do.  There are also TONS of online marketing/survey groups that I have learned about from some of these bloggers.  Interesting, to say the least.

As I type this I have little hands trying to “help” with clicking of the mouse, clacking of keys that were not intended.

I have also found some great blogs about crafts, learning tools to do with the kids.  They have helped a lot.  We are doing a letter each week, starting with upper case.  We do a craft, go to the library to get books that go along with the letter, learn a bible verse, try to find a movie that ties in with lesson and try to learn a song too.  Thanks goes to @noflashcards (twitter) or her blog  http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/ for the crafts and much of the things we use.  The kids seem to like the projects and the songs the best…but are starting to get into the different books.  This week we did the letter “E” and made “E”lephants and read Elmer in the Snow, since our library did not have the regular Elmer book.  Our bible verse will be one of these:

Early will I seek thee. Psalm 63:1
Even a child is known by his doings. Proverbs 20:11
Every good and perfect gift is from above James 1:17

We will be trying to tie “F”, “G” and “H” into Halloween.  Emily will be a ladybug and Graysen wants to be “Wubzy” for Halloween.  We will probably not go trick or treating, but instead will most likely be doing an outreach project on Halloween with UNDERGROUND (undergroundhazleton.com).

David and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on the 18th and he surprised me with taking me to see “RENT”, then a midnight dinner at sonic.  It was nice, and thanks to Nana and JaiJai for watching the kids so we could go out.

Graysen has started making things up on his own, along with repeating EVERYTHING we say.  He LOVES stories that we make up but we need to get better at that.  Emily has got a personality all her own but still tries to do all the things her brother does.

10. Do you want…. popsicle? (Graysen asking mommy or daddy or anyone who will listen – he says what he wants YOU to say.)
9. Puh, puh, puh. (What emily says when she wants up)
8. Graysen, be nice to sissy.
7. Sissy, stop pulling Graysens hair.
6. Yay! We did it… (Graysen always congratulates himself.)
5. Mo, mo, mo. (What Emily says when she wants elmo.)
4. No…. nana doesn’t have cows. (A rhyme Melissa made up for Graysen to tell us what someone “does have”
3. David, did you remember to…? (Melissa asking David… and the answer is usually no.)
2. Get your hand out of your pants son. (Graysen’s infatuation with his man parts is unstoppable.)
1. This is the house that Jack built… Graysen loves this book and wants to read it, see it, smell it, live it, taste it, draw it, live it, breathe it…

A new family favorite. We will be going again. If you go, go early so you can make sure the animals are hungry enough to eat your food in the petting zoo area. Yes those are pictures of me being eaten by goats. The one pic of Emily crying is right after the mini-goats were tugging at her skirt… lol. Shortly after the ostrich picture was taken Graysen learned to listen to mommy and daddy when they told him that animals bite. Safari was awesome – you travel in a bus with the roof cut off and the animals come right up to the bus and stick their heads in your face for some food. Very cool. Kids LOVED it, and the best part… where can you take a family of four, spend less than $18 and get a whole day of entertainment, learning and hands-on experiences for the kids… not many places.

Old school SUBLIME…gotta love it!  But seriously, I think summer might actually be here…FINALLY.  Looking forward to going to the “beach” tomorrow. David and I have been doing “Fat Flush” again, but I have been having trouble with cravings and being hungry.  I guess cuz I am nursing Em still?  Hopefully it will get better with phase 2, which starts in a week.  The books says I should have started at phase 2 or 3, but I was being stubborn and decided to do phase 1…silly me.  I may switch to phase 2 if I can find sprouted grain bread that doesnt cost a fortune.

David and Graysen fell asleep yesterday afternoon for a late nap so Em and I went shopping…for groceries.  We went to Heritage and got some fresh veggies that were on sale.  Green beans (.89/lb), celery, carrots(2lbs/$1) and a couple nectarines…total $4.57.  Then went to giant and got some stuff we needed and the fresh produce that was on sale there.  I saved $9.70 bring in the total to $28.xx.  I thought that was decent for not usung ANY coupons.  Then went to Aldi’s which was CLOSED…bummer.  So the kids and I went this morning.  The highlights: strawberries $0.99 for the normally $2.50 container, blueberries $0.99 for a pint, 3 garlic bulbs for $0.69.  THen leaving after I got the kids in the car and cart returned for my $0.25 back, i looked at my receipt and the list to make sure I didn’t miss anything or need to go anywhere else and there is an accident beside me.  Two cars decided to back out at the same time, so nothing major, but that could very well have been me if it hadnt taken me so long to get situated.

Went to Knoebels on half-price day to let the kids have their first amusement park experience. Needless to say when we left the park they were asleep in less than 9 minutes on the road.

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa came to PA to visit with us and the kids. Everyone had a blast.

Fun at the lake at Tuscarora.