What a mean Mom I am

The boys spilled Cheerios all over the living room one morning when I was shoveling snow...Topher was so excited and said that it had snowed inside...I did not feel that this was something to brag about. So over the last couple of months I decided that Topher was big enough to clean up some of these messes by himself and handed him the vacuum wand like you can see him using here to pick up the "snow". Lots of these things have happened with more frequency throughout the winter; in addition to this the kids have colored on the walls with crayons and pencils, and on Friday morning Topher knocked my "Be" tile off the half-wall in my living room and broke it... top all this with a very labor intensive semster ( i only watch maybe 3-4 hrs of TV a week!) I don't have time for the winter to last much longer...my kids need to get out of the house! The park would enable them to play while I read some of my school books, but this winter has been so long and wet and unbearably cold that the boys hardly get to go outside to play in the snow and so use their extra energy destroying various things in the house. But on to more positive things...
My couponing has really paid off this month. Mike was afraid to look at our credit card bill (we pay it off every month so we can earn points for travel and other rewards), because I've been going to the store a little bit more, but our bill was HALF what it has been over the last few months! I've also been getting mostly name brand foods- something we didn't have ANY of before. For those of you who use this for couponing-- moneysavingmom.com has a link to a coupon on coupons.com where you can print a .75/1 coupon for Oscar Mayer lunchables sub which are on sale for $1 making them only .25!!! Yay! For Kroger Match-ups my favorite it stretchingabuckblog.com-- their ads start on Sunday (4 days before ours) so I am ready when Thursday comes, I just double check to see if they are all the same prices.

once there was a snowman! 2/16

It was finally warm enough to go outside and make a snowman! We had a snowman kit that needed to be broken in...

Matt liked throwing the snow more than the snowman...

But he was really excited to be outside!

You can't see it as well as I'd hoped but the snow is up to his knees right here in this part of the yard.

presidents day 2/15/10

Matthew found something to do while Mom was looking at clothes...

It was Topher's bright idea to start trying things on...

They were the cutest things that I found in American Eagle! ;)

Very cute!

2/6/10 Family Bowling

The boys are trying to show Matt how to bowl...

Topher had a hard time staying to watch the ball hit the pins...

It took a long time for it to get down there with only a push!

Matt had to try too! We had a lot of fun and the Family Christian Bowling Center is quite affordable-- and the best part was that they had bowling shoes that fit Topher! They were so cute! ;)

2/5/10 Playgroup

Topher is King of the mountain!

Topher and Matt enjoying a day of play!

Matthew with his "cheese" smile.

As you can see these boys were in desperate need of some rigorous play... We've been so tired of staying inside that they really needed this. The night before I said that we were going to go to the store and Topher said "Yay- go to the store!" They like going out but not necessarily to the store, so that is how I knew that they were really tired of staying inside... But that day at the store we got some killer deals! The one of note was Oscar Mayer bologna for free! Schnucks had it on sale for $1 and I had 4 $1/1 coupons, so with tax we paid .04! Coupons.com also has a bunch of coupons for $4 and $5 off games and we got Monopoly, Pictureka, and Scrabble card games for .24-1.24! Yay!

free!

So on one of the blogs that I check (numerous times a day), there was an offer to sign up for a free juicy juice sippy cup...and it came! Just about the time I decided that I definitely need more.... where have all the sippy cups gone???? Well I have been totally obsessed with this coupon thing that I failed to tell everyone that Mike had an interview to be the manager of a Sherwin Williams paint store here in Peoria, his chances are pretty good, and it would mean he'd get a raise so we are excited about this prospect. I mean that would mean that we could (potentially) settle for a while. Though at living here in Peoria for 22 months this is by FAR the longest we've ever lived in one city/state since we got married. Matthew is starting to speak in two word sentences now like "bye dad" and "hi grandma" and it has totally caught me by surprise! Where has the time gone????