Christmas is coming!

Olivia did lots of things this weekend to celebrate the impending holidays. Breakfast with Santa with her cousins, and the Franklin Christmas parade. She thought Mrs. Claus was ok, not so keen on the big guy though. And she LOVED the parade!

Cause it's cute

That is why I am blogging this picture...

Visiting Grandpa!

This past weekend Olivia and I had nothing going on, so we decided to make the trek North to Indy to visit Grandpa! It was a great weekend! Grandpa got lots of hugs and kisses from Ms Olivia and we had lots to do

Riding to the mall to shop with cousin Isabelle

Grubbing on some cake at Gray's

Bowling

Hanging out with cousin Avery

Visiting great-grandma

Eating Steak and Shake for the first time!

Outside!

Since it has been in the 60s all November so far, we have been taking advantage. Olivia stands at the back door and "moos" like a cow when she wants to go out, rain or shine. We try to take her as much as we can, and believe it's so good for kids to play outdoors!

Her Daddy filled her sandbox with stones, and she LOVES playing in them! And it's less mess than sand, for sure

Still trying to climb the slide...

Flying a kite with Dad on a windy day!

Kroger Triple Coupons- Trip 2

Well, today was just about the best day ever!!!!

Got $80 worth of groceries, for $25!!! That is a savings of about 75%!!! And seriously, this is a ton of groceries.

So sad today was the last day, but honestly, I am about couponed out for a little while. The greatest thing is that I will only have to shop for meat, dairy, and produce for probably the next 3-4 months!! yeah!

Kroger Triple Coupons- Trip 1

I could not resist this. I went through ALL of my coupons and bought everything I could that applied. I bought some things that we didn't need right now, but everything was able to fit into the pantry or fridge/freezer out in the garage. The savings weren't as big as I had hoped, but that is easily explained by the random "extras" I got as well. Nothing crazy, but milk, ground beef, etc.

Here is the breakdown on what I ended up getting for free, or close to it:

2 Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 bag frozen peas
Mrs Dash seasining
2 Coffeemate creamers
4 pack of Batteries
Lean Pockets

There were many more, but I cannot tell from my receipt what was what now!

 

I am going back again tomorrow to another store, while Nana watches Olivia. She did really good today, but between my bum leg, and her 15 month attention span, we were a bit rushed!

Spent- $51.09

Saved- $51.79

About 50%

I can generally save 50% on any given week, but not on this much stuff!

Olivia's first birthday party (as a guest!)

Olivia was invited to her friend Brody's first birthday party! She had never been to a party as a guest, so she was stoked. So stoked, she skipped her afternoon nap... mom and dad knew this could be ugly.

The birthday boy, Brody!

And after Mommy "let" her fall off a swing, she fell asleep crying on my shoulder, and spent the next 2 hours in the birthday boy's crib!

 

She did eventually wake up, and hang out with everyone for a little bit, but she was ready for bed, so off to home we went. She is just not a partier! Thank goodness!

Saved 40% on groceries today!

I could have done better, but there were some things I wanted that were not on sale, like chicken :( I need to stock up when it goes on sale in the next couple weeks.

Here are some highlights

4- Steamfresh Meals for 2- used 2 buy one get one free coupons, and 2 $1.50 off coupons. Made them $2 each! Pretty great!

2- Country Crock butter- They were buy one get one free, and I had 2 coupons for .30 cents off (which double to .60). So they were .39 cents each!

6- Uncle Ben's rice- They were buy one get one free- I then had 2 coupons for $1 off three. So I got them each for .25 cents!

Also the penny item for the week was peanut butter, and that is a good one!

I spent $70.81, but saved $50.13

$24 saved in sales, $25 saved in coupons

Reallllly walking now! This is from a cell phone, so it's bad quality, but you get the point!

Friends, friends, and more friends!

As the weather cools, we have had tons of playdates. Here are some pics from some of them

Olivia and Zachary

Olivia is a very good playmate, and shares her toys well. She never runs with scissors, and the other kids like to play with her!

Update on me

Well, I have lost 7 pounds, and I seem to be stuck there. But I feel like I look better! Clothes from a long time ago finally fit again!

Circus!

We took Christa to the circus for her birthday and Olivia loved it!

She rode an elephant, even though she was squished in between me and a million other people! She really loved the circus, but not the clowns :)

Playing at the park!

She has so much fun and is all over the place now!

And talking

For the first time the other day, Olivia put 2 words together! Mimi was babysitting so we could go to the Predators game, and after we left Olivia was not too happy. She got over it, but then looked at Mimi and said "Dada?..............Bye bye?"

Awwwwww! She's growing up too fast!

And another new talent!

Ok, mommy and daddy have had enough growing up for you this week, Miss Olivia! She feeds herself!! Ok, well maybe she is not so good at it, but she is learning!

She climbs!

Geez, talk about all kinds of stuff happening at once! She is all over the place all of the sudden! I got her this stand up toy at a consignment sale for $5, and she has found all kinds of ways to play with it

Olivia's partner in crime is here!

Sam and Andrea had baby Knox on Thursday the 17th at 9:38 am. I was blessed enough to be with them as she labored and as he was born. It was so amazing, and I am still in awe of how strong Andrea was!

Here are some funny comparison pics of Knox, and then Olivia, in the same place. makes my baby fever spike a little but seeing that precious baby!

Olivia, 5 days old

Knox, 5 days old

Has she grown at all?? I know you can't see Knox too well, but that's my intention, as Andrea and Sam haven't put any pics up yet, and I will let them do it first!

Olivia took her first step!

Olivia, Matt and I were playing in the floor, and she was cruising around the couch, like always. I reached my arms out to her and she walked toward me!

She is still very nervous about walking, and prefers to hold both hands of someone. We are working on just using one hand, and that seems to be improving her confidence. She also walks behind her push toys and loves that!

She will be on the run soon! I give it 2 weeks, max!

This is how I buy groceries- 45% savings!

So thanks to some frugal friends (Rachel) and some great blogs I follow, I have learned how to really save money at the grocery. Today I spent $64.45 and saved $45.61! So I got over $100 worth of groceries for $65!!

Here are some extra great buys I got this week

-Huggies bath products were buy one get one free, and I had a coupon for each one of them. So I ended up getting 6 bath products, normally $21 for about $6! That was awesome

- Green Giant frozen veggies were $1 each this week and I had a coupon for each of them (4) making them average about .25 cents each

- Cheerios were on sale for $1.99 and I used a store competitor coupon for each and a manufacturer coupon for each (2), so I got them both FREE!

- Kix was on sale for $1.99, and I used a competitor store coupon and a manufacturer coupon, and got it for FREE!

- Healthy Choice Steamer bowls were on sale for $2.50, and I had a $2 coupon, so it was .50 cents!


I got a ton more things, most of which was on sale, so I did great today, but those were the real stand outs for this week for us.

Happy shopping!