Reagan's 3-Year Pictures

These are Reagan's pictures from last weekend... I copied them from the Target site, so they are low resolution, but at least you can see them...? I only ordered 6 of these - you can try and guess which ones... :)

When 3-Year-Olds Choose...

What Reagan wore to Sadie's house today:

Our conversation this morning:

Reagan: "I know! I can wear my Easter dress!"
Me: "I don't know, Reagan... I don't think you have any shoes to go with it..."
Reagan: "Yes I do! I can wear my dancing shoes!"
Me: "Uh, yeah... why didn't I think of that? Sure."

Super Savings Saturday

This post is intended for Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom. Her blog is awesome -- check it out! This post is also to give hope to those poor souls like me who don't have a CVS. As an apology to my family and regular readers -- if this is not your hobby (like me), you will have a hard time understanding this -- sorry :(


This stuff was from both Target and Walgreens. It cost me (its sort of complicated) about $25 (it actually cost less if you count the Register Rewards I got back at Walgreens).

Target:
6 Glade Plug-ins - sale for 1.60 ea.
2 baby shampoo - trial size 0.89 ea.
2 Lifesavers Gummis - 1.25 ea.
2 Gerber Puffs - 1.92 ea.
3lb bananas - .54/lb = 1.62
0.5lb cheese - 2.69
Desitin - 4.19
J&J Body Wash - 3.00
Subtotal = 19.62

Used:
$2/1 Glade printable
$2/2 J&J shampoo printable
BOGO Lifesavers from insert (Reagan's treat for getting her pics taken)
$2/2 Gerber (Target coupon from the mail - should have been 0.50/2, but they're all messed up!)
$1/1lb Target cheese printable
$3/1 Desitin (Target coupon from the mail - should have been 0.75/1)
$1/1 J&J Body Wash (Target coupon from the mail - should have been 0.75/1)
$2/2 J&J Wash and Desitin products printable (can't find the link - sorry, I think it was the J&J website?)

New total: $5.50

Walgreens #1:
2 Huggies Wipes - 2.50 ea.
Used $1/1 coupon from insert
Total= 4.28 -- Got back $2 RR for next purchase

Walgreens #2:
4 Planters Peanuts - 3.49 ea.
3 Mac & Cheese - 0.69 ea.

Planters were BOGO this week.
Used $3/1 Planters WYB 3 Kraft prod. printable here
Used $2 RR from WAG #1
Total=4.26 -- Got back $5 RR

Walgreens #3:
4 Planters Peanuts - 3.49 ea.
3 Mac & Cheese - 0.69 ea.
2 Oral B Cross Action TBs - 5.50ea.

Planters were BOGO this week.
Used $3/1 Planters WYB 3 Kraft prod. printable here
Used BOGO Oral B TB coupon from insert (and the one I bought was free after RR)

Total= $12.63 -- Got back $5 and $5.50 RR

Walgreens #4:
2 Huggies Wipes - 2.50 ea.
(Out of coupons!) But used $5 RR from WAG #2
Total= $0.30 -- Got back $2 RR

Grand total: OOP = $5.50 at Target, $13.xx at WAG, and $9 on my WAG gift card (rebates from last month) (so about $26.50). For that money, I got $12.50 RR to spend at WAG in the next 2 weeks.

Comparing my deals to other Money Savers, its not that great, but compared to paying regular price for the stuff I actually needed (wipes, bananas, & desitin) that's about what I would have spent. :)

**These ideas, deals, and links come from Money Saving Mom, More Than Enough, Budget Helps, and The Centsible Sawyer. Give their sites a visit if you are interested in this new hobby of mine :)**

The Life of Grant...

Grant wearing my glasses and asking us, "Did you know the human head weighs 8 pounds?"

-*+*-*+*-*+*-*+*-*+*-

This post is about Grant. He seems to get the raw end of the deal many times at our house... Tonight was no exception -- keep reading, I'll get there...

So, what is Grant up to these days??

He is a sweet boy who can throw a fit like a 2-year-old. He sleeps though the night every night from 7:15pm to 6am. We rarely need the alarm - he is so predictable in the morning.

He has 4 teeth, he is possibly allergic to watermelon (the same way Reagan is allergic to carrots), he loves to be outside, and he alternates between scooting and crawling to get around.

He laughs at nearly everything Reagan "says" to him, he loves to eat bananas and read books with pictures of babies.

He has half (or maybe a third) as many baby pictures as Reagan and probably the same proportion of home videos.

I've cut his hair at least 5 times. Right now it is really jagged because he won't sit still for me to finish -- he knows what I'm doing and he doesn't like it.

So about tonight... We took the kids to Story City to get out of the house on a Friday night. Our friends Jim & Nicole were volunteering at the antique carousel, so we had a picnic supper at the park, played for awhile, and then rode the carousel. Reagan got popcorn while we talked, then we threw sticks off the swinging bridge into the Skunk River, and finally stopped at McD's for some ice cream on the way home. Mom and Dad got hot fudge sundaes and Reagan got a baby cone upside down in a dish.

Seeing her face light up as I passed it back to her was priceless :) Every part of the night was so fun for her (while we were riding the carousel she said, "Our whole family is riding together!"), and then to get her own dish of ice cream -- it was almost too much for her to believe. :)

Grant had fun, too - but not as much. While we were all greedily eating our frozen treats, all he could do was watch Reagan, and dream, and whine, and then fall asleep. That poor boy - he's tasted ice cream and he knew exactly what he was missing :(

"Reagan-isms"

Here are a couple of conversations Reagan and I have had today:

Me: "Red means... what?"
Reagan: "STOP!"
Me: "Green means... what?"
Reagan: "GO!"
Me: "Yellow means... what?"
Reagan "SPANISH!"
Me: (laughing) "What?!"
Reagan: (she just grins at me and giggles)

___________+++++++___________+++++++___________


Reagan: "Is it tomorrow?"
Me: "um... not yet. It's still today. It will be tomorrow... tomorrow."
Reagan: (giddy and acting goofy) "Aunt Sandy is coming over tomorrow!"
Me: "Yep, that will be fun!"
Reagan: "But Aunt Sandy can't stay."
Me: "Huh? Why not?"
Reagan: "Because she has a baby in her tummy."
Me: "What?! Did she tell you that?!"
Reagan: "No."
Me: "Then how do you know that?"
Reagan: "I don't know."
Me: "I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a baby in her tummy. Maybe you're thinking of Aunt Sarah?"
Reagan: "No. I'm not."

To Sandy: -- I am pretty sure that you don't have a "baby in your tummy", but if you do - Reagan was the first one to know ----- and she can't keep a secret. :)


___________+++++++___________+++++++___________


At bedtime, we always seem to have good talks -- mostly because Reagan will do about anything to stall the inevitable... Here was our talk tonight:

Me: "Get some good sleep -- remember that Aunt Sandy and Uncle Greg are coming over tomorrow."
Reagan: "Just Aunt Sandy."
Me: "Nope, Uncle Greg is coming with her..." :)
Reagan: "Why is Uncle Greg coming with her?"
Me: "Because they're married." :)
Reagan: "Well..... I'm married."
Me: "Um.... you have to be a grown-up to be married." :)
Reagan: "I'm married to Uncle Greg and.... I'm married to you!"
Me: "Actually Reagan, you can only be married to one person at a time..."
Reagan: "Then I'm married to you!"
Me: "Well.... you have to be married to a boy. He'll be the husband and since you are a girl, you'll be the wife." :)
Reagan: "Well....... Alec is a boy."
Me: "But.... Alec isn't a grown-up (never mind that he's your cousin!) so he isn't quite ready to be a husband yet."
Reagan: "I'm going to name my puppy 'wife'."
Me: "....um -- what puppy?"
Reagan: "My Wonder Pets puppy. He's a grown-up, and he's a girl, so I can name him 'wife'."
Me: "Sounds good - how 'bout you hop into your bed?" :)

Tim Taylor's Swingset

Joel had a friend when he was growing up that had really tall swings and he says they were great - even as they grew up. Joel insisted on duplicating that swing height. And here you have it - Tim Taylor's swing set.


This is a picture of what Reagan thinks is a swimming pool. Grant is happy and Reagan is happy, so who am I to spoil it by telling them the truth? I'm sure our neighbors wonder...

I Love Target

I do, I can't help it.

This is another coupon post, so my apologies to any of my family members who want to read about the kids. This doesn't have anything in it about them, except that they were with me and were super while we were shopping. Reagan will help organize my coupons and "pay" with them. Anyway...

Here is what I got today at Target for about $10:

1 Buddies Soap -$0.06(free w/ coupon)
1 Colgate Toothpaste $0.44 (used $1.50/1 coupon from wknd paper & $1/1 Target coupon)
1 "Fur Fighter" $1.99 (used $4/1 Manuf. coupon & $4/1 Target coupon)
4 boxes Ziploc bags $1.10ea. (clearance for $1.60; used 2 $1/2 coupons)
1 bag Friskies cat food $1.69 (used $2/1 coupon)
1 box Capri Sun $1.37 (clearance)
2 Oral B Dental floss -0.06 (free after 2 $1/1 coupons from wknd paper)
1 Worcest. Sauce $0.24 (used $0.55/1 Manuf. coupon & $1/1 Target coupon)
2 Fusion Razors -$2.02 (I EARNED money! used 2 $4/1 for each and if you bought 2 razors, Target gave you a $10 gift card for your next purchase!)

You can print the Target coupons here.

I always feel bad for the people behind me in line when I take so long to check out. I usually try to catch their eye and apologize. This week there was an older couple behind me who was cheering me on. :-) He watched my total go from $43.xx down to $22.xx something and I think he was more excited than I was! He called me kiddo and applauded me for my "smart shopping". It made me smile and was a nice change from the guy who wanted to strangle me the week before. :)

Conversations in the Dark

Here is a conversation Reagan and I had as I was putting her to bed last night. She was stalling and wanting to “cuddle” so I started by telling her she would stay home for the next couple of days. It went like this:

Me: “Hey Reagan, you only have one more day at Sadie’s tomorrow and then you’re going to stay home with Mommy & Daddy for four days!”

Reagan: “That’s a really long time! Why will I stay home for four days?”

Me: “Because Addy and Bubba’s Great Grandma died and they have to go on a trip to go to her funeral.”

Reagan looked up at me with her big brown eyes and said knowingly, “Addy and Bubba’s Great Grandma died ---- on a cross?”

Me: (stifling a smile) “No Honey, she died in a hospital. People don’t die on crosses anymore. That was a special thing Jesus did for us a long time ago.”

Reagan: "Why did Addy and Bubba’s Great Grandma die?”

Me: (winging it) “Because Sweetie, she got very, very old and when people get really old, sometimes they die. Their bodies are empty and their hearts go to Heaven to be with Jesus.”

Reagan: “Yeah...... when they get really, really old Grandmas die in a hospital sometimes....... But I’m not old.”

Me: (hoping she won’t be afraid of death?) “Nope, you’re not old! You’re not a Great Grandma, either!”

Reagan: “Nope, I’m not old!” She pointed at me, and with a big smile she said, “But you are!”

Me: (too defensively) “Rea-gan! I’m not old!” and then I tickled her a lot just to make her remember that 30 is not old!

Messy Faces

Not the best Side-By-Side, but when Grant looked like this tonight at supper, it reminded me of this picture Sadie took when Reagan was about the same age... :)












Progress on "Reagan's park":