WriteShop Giveaway!

Confessions of a Homeschooler is giving away a free level of WriteShop!  Click here to see how to enter!

Buy 10 Save $5!

I was totally stupid and did not think to buy a paper the first Sunday of the month (when there are the most coupons!!!!), but I still managed to make due and get some great deals. I looooove Kroger's Buy 10 Save $5 sale. They don't have it nearly enough! I actually got a few deals from their organic section this morning. It is possible, but you just really have to be on the look out. This week they're doing Buy 10 Get $5 off on the frozen foods! Woot! Exciting! :P

15-individual packs of Kool-aid mix
2-Yakisobi noodle dishes
1-Freschetta pepperoni pizza
3-Quaker Quakes (mini rice cakes)
1-Uncle Ben's Ready Rice (FREE!)
1-Silk Almond milk
5-Kraft BBQ sauce
2-Mom's Best Naturals cereal
1-French's mustard
1-French's brown mustard
1-cannister of Koolaid drink mix (FREE!)
1-Huggies Little Swimmers
1-Gillette body wash

Retail: $55.84 +tax
Paid: $19.54 +tax

Redneck Pool

The fact one of my kids  is wearing clothes just adds
to the redneck aspect, don't you think?

If you ever saw Kristen Wiig's skit from SNL where she is portraying Suze Orman (click here for the hilarity!), you will remember the crazy money-saving "tips" she gives.  This pool definitely makes me think it would have been one of them!

"Now listen to me my dears and dearies, first you take an old camper shell, line it with a silver tarp, fill it with water from the garden hose, pour in some Windex for coloring and you have yourself a swimming pool that exceeds...the...ever...popular...Doughboy!  And if the sun warms up the water enough you have yourself an...hot tub...perfect...for...that..hot...date!"

Okay, we didn't really pour in Windex. Don't think the ammonia would be considered very safe. :-p This whole thing was Ryan's bright idea.  He has tried to sell that camper shell, but to no avail.  He did this on a whim one day to keep the kids occupied while he was working on his car.  Qe do intend to buy a real pool for the kids. The past couple days the kids have loved it and have worn themselves out silly. Summer shall be lovely!



I know this looks awful, but I promise Autumn is not
falling forward!

 "And remember friends, if saving money is difficult then I am a sudoku puzzle on a Friday night!"

Educational Insights Giveway!

Educational Insights is giving away a $100 gift card to spend on any of their products!  This is an awesome company full of children's games and manipulatives, so I'm sure you would find something to spend it on. :) Click here to find out how to enter!

Having My Babies :)

Autumn, minutes after birth

Hannah, minutes after birth

I can't leave out either of my girls, so this will be for both.

1. Were you married at the time? yes and yes :)

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? excited, not knowing what to expect since Ryan was supposed to be deployed during my pregnancy, and then with Autumn I was just shocked since we wanted another baby and it happened so fast! :-p

3. How old were you? 22 and 26

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? pregnancy test at home both times

5. Who did you tell first? My mom (Hannah), Ryan (Autumn)

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes! I like to call my babies by their name!

7. Due date? April 22, 2005 and September 25, 2008

8. Did you deliver early or late? induced on my due date with Hannah and one week early with Autumn

9. Did you have morning sickness? oh yeah but it always tapered off right at the 3 month mark :)

10. What did you crave? With Hannah, Hardee's thickburgers and french bread pizza (gained a lot of weight :-p) and with Autumn, cheetos and Domino's chicken kickers.

11. Who irritated you the most? no one in particular

12. What was your child's sex? both girls!!

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 56 lbs w/ Hannah (ooops) and 47 lbs w/ Autumn (eh...better :-p)

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Nah.  They thought Autumn had a choroid plexus cyst so I was sent for a level II ultrasound and all was well! :-D

15. Where did you give birth? Fort Campbell, KY and Fort Riley, KS

16. How many hours were you in labor? 12ish with Hannah, scheduled c-section with Autumn

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Ryan both times

18. Who watched? Ryan both times

19. Was it natural or c-section? C-Section both times, blah

20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Ummmm...YES!!

21. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs 13 oz. and 7 lbs 12 oz. (considering all the weight I gained you would think they weighed more ;-p)

22. What did you name him/her? Hannah Jo and Autumn Ryan

23. How old is your first born today? 6 years and 2 1/2 years

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all mamas out there have enjoyed a relaxing day of "me" time, because goodness knows we all deserve it! I had a lovely day, with the exception Ryan and Autumn stayed home from church because Autumn had a fever. :( She's a little better but still so tired. It's not even 7 PM and she is already in bed out like a light. Ryan is making me steak and mac and cheese for dinner. Yum! Hannah made me a card in Sunday school.  I still have the flower pen she made last year. :)  I realize more and more what an honor it is to have two precious girls call me "mama".  I can't see myself having any other job!

Handprint Sun Craft

As you can see craft time was nothing but thrills
and excitement!

I got this idea from Enchanted Learning.  It's amazing all the different ideas there are for crafts using cut out handprints.  The only one I knew of was the Christmas wreaths (no doubt we all made those in school at some point).

Materials:

glue stick/Elmer's school glue
yellow and orange construction paper
pen
scissors
googly eyes (I couldn't find our so the girls were stuck with drawing their own eyes...it was hard work but they managed. :-p)

Cute a large circle from the orange paper.  Glue on googly eyes and make a face.  Trace 8-10 hand prints and cut them out.  Trace out more for a fuller look.  Cut out the hands and glue them around underneath the sun's face with the fingers sticking out.  For a more sturdy result use a paper plate for the face and paint it either orange or yellow.

A great craft to display as a spring decoration and the fact there is very limited mess makes it even better!